Snail Mail at Granada Theater: A Welcome Switch-Up 

I am a pop lover at heart. On a given day, you can catch me blasting EDM, hyperpop, techno, or shoegaze at a concerningly high volume. And now that I’ve started learning how to DJ, the tempo has only gone up. I haven’t listened to anything slow or melancholic in what feels like forever. So, Snail Mail’s concert? That was a major switch-up. 

I hadn’t listened to much of Snail Mail’s discography going in. I wanted to go to introduce myself to a new crowd, having first heard of the artist through one of my best friends, who mentioned Snail Mail’s appearance on the soundtrack for I Saw the TV Glow. As a film nerd, I love the director and have a soft spot for that soundtrack– it’s full of indie music’s brightest stars. When I told my friend I was going, she immediately sent me a curated library list of her favorites from each album. 

I attended with another close friend, and we had a great time from the moment we arrived. We did our obligatory bathroom picture and discovered that Granada Theater has the coolest ballroom lighting. We snagged spots in the artist’s guest pass section early, and as the venue filled up, I couldn’t help but notice how hilariously diverse the crowd was. Alongside the expected alternative crowd, there were middle-aged men, older gentlemen, and business bros all mixed in together. My friend and I had a good laugh taking it all in. 

The opener, Sharp Pins, kicked things off, and I was immediately won over by the lo-fi power pop and the frontman’s look: shaggy hair, thrift-store chic, and a distinctly 70s punk energy. His band was lively and tight, and the little leg-kicks and nods they’d do at the end of each song gave the whole set a charming, almost theatrical quality. 

Then came the main event. The second Lindsey walked onstage; I knew I was going to love her. She wore a black and white suit under a black skirt with high-top Converse. Her bandmates were equally polished, and I’ll admit I found myself a little smitten over one in particular: the bandmate in the back who, at one point, picked up an electric cello. She had the shaggy haircut I always fall for, and a style best described as Shane from The L Word, which, for the record, I am always a sucker for.  

I found it impressive that a crew member came out after nearly every song to swap Lindsey’s guitar, cycling between electric and acoustic depending on the track. It sounds like a small detail, but I think it highlighted just how versatile her talent is. She moved between instruments and sounds with total ease, never losing the thread of the performance. 

The setlist leaned heavily into Snail Mail’s latest album, Ricochet, with a handful of songs pulled from her earlier work and her beloved EP Habit, and she introduced “Reverie” as her personal favorite. 

After the concert, I did some more research on Lindsey and learned that before Ricochet, she had developed vocal polyps that required surgery, leaving her unable to speak or sing for an entire month and forcing her to relearn both from scratch– a process that also introduced a new falsetto. Given the online discourse around her vocal performances, it’s worth noting that it takes courage to get back on stage after something like that, and a few vocal imperfections mean nothing compared to what she went through to get there. 

Overall, Snail Mail isn’t exactly my usual scene, but I’m glad I went. For someone who hasn’t willingly slowed down her music in forever, it was a welcome switch-up.