Concert review: Weyes Blood at The Orange Peel

When is musical monotony (mostly) acceptable? When the psych-folk pleasantness of Weyes Blood is on display.

Though better experienced in recorded form while comfortably seated on a favorite couch or chair, the work of Natalie Mering nevertheless cast a spell over a capacity room at The Orange Peel on Feb. 24 throughout the first show of her In Holy Flux Tour.

Backed by a four-piece band, Mering transformed the stage into an unspoken tribute to Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York, complete with flickering candles — another hint that it probably should have been a seated show, as were her previous two Asheville appearances at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.

The crowd, however, wasn’t complaining and showered the headliners with raucous cheers that far eclipsed the energy of the band’s dulcet tones. (For once at an amplified Asheville concert, earplugs weren’t needed.)

Well aware of what she was slinging, Mering joked about the second half of her set being a giant rave and warned of launching into big rock numbers, but naturally stuck to her distinct, appealing brand of sonically layered folk anthems that answer the question, “What if Joni Mitchell and Karen Carpenter visited the Moog factory?”

Despite shouted requests for “Seven Words,” a standout from her 2016 breakthrough, Front Row Seat, Mering pretended like her pre-2019 catalog didn’t exist — likely a sage move, considering the artistic growth she’s exhibited with each new release.

Working in two-song combos, she hopped between 2022’s And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow (fittingly starting with its gorgeous opening tracks, “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” and “Children of the Empire”) and 2019’s Titanic Rising, occasionally twirling in her white dress/robe, but generally remaining fairly stationary at the mic stand, an acoustic guitar joining her a handful of times.

But in the set’s home stretch, when photographers were at last allowed to enter the pit, the theatrics ramped up with the evening’s most colorful projections blasted onto Mering’s receptive outfit, followed by a recreation of her latest album’s cover art. The literal interpretation of the title resulted in a circle on her chest lit up red like E.T., and though she threw flowers to her fans, bags of Reese's Pieces were sadly not offered.

In tandem with the elevated stage visuals, the record-specific couplet approach was likewise abandoned with the rolling synth waves of Titanic Rising's “Movies” — complete with ocean-blue/green light appropriately bathing the vocalist as she fully emerged from her cocoon — and symbolic apex “Hearts Aglow” closing out the set. The same went for the inevitable encore, as Darkness’ “A Given Thing” and Titanic’s “Everyday” — arguably Mering’s greatest hit thus far — tied a bow on the repetitious but thoroughly recommended experience.

(Photos by Jonny Leather)