Everyone and everything we saw and heard at the first of Mitski’s two-night Orlando stand

All the way back in 2019, Bao Le Huu wrote in This Little Underground that Mitski was a “next-gen idol.” He was right then and he’s even more correct now, amply and gorgeously demonstrated during Mitski’s performance at the Pugh Theater — the first night of a two-night stand in Orlando.

Opener Tamino launched the night with a set of ghostly, minimal indie-folk that thrilled and gripped with a storm of sound whipped up by only a voice and guitar. Tamino’s breathy vocals ascended at points to a heavenly falsetto that both made the audience scream and brought to mind the impossible lovelorn highs of Tim Buckley.

The curtains parted and an absolute solid wall of screaming ushered Mitski on stage. The stagecraft was understated but effective — Mitski held court on a slightly raised circular platform with her backing band arrayed around her like points on a star. The use of lighting was varied and evocative, from two harsh white spotlights at the end of opener “Everyone” to metal shards floating and bathed in red light during “My Love Mine All Mine.”

Mitski used the confined space masterfully with a sense of theatrical timing: stalking back and forth like a caged creature, dramatically falling to the ground and crawling, standing on a chair, beseeching with outstretched arms, or even standing still during the awestruck silence as the assembled musicians prepared to start another song.

The set was a mix of well-loved anthems — “I Bet On Losing Dogs” and “The Frost” — and generous selections from newest album The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We — “My Love Mine All Mine” and “Heaven.” The sounds ranged from anxious indie-rock to the warm country sounds that suffused Land, all executed with a heartfelt verve that left just enough to chance.

An encore of “Nobody” and, crucially, “Washing Machine Heart” sent everyone in the full house out into the chilly night, teary-eyed yet elated.

Best bit of banter with the audience: Someone screamed “mother!” at Mitski, to which she evenly replied, “I’m not your mother.”