Touring is nothing new when you’re a viral star with three acclaimed albums under your belt, but arena’s may be new territory. And that’s exactly where Melanie Martinez finds herself on her current world tour: The Trilogy Tour, but the matchup couldn’t be any more perfect.
Making the transition from theater venues to arenas just makes sense for a visual artist like Melanie. The Trilogy Tour combines her three previously released albums: Cry Baby, K-12 and Portals into one cohesive story following the character she created years ago for her debut album Cry Baby. The album was released in 2015 and was told from the point of view of an aptly named protagonist by the same name- Cry Baby.
With The Trilogy Tour, Melanie opens the first act of her setlist dressed as her former persona singing atop a crib in a set designed to look like a baby’s bedroom. It was an iconic moment to see the character brought to life in such a big way with lights, dancers, and a backdrop much bigger than anything the singer’s had before.
The nearly three-hour show (sorry Billie Eilish), was as close to a Broadway production as it was to a pop tour. We attended a sold-out show in Philidelphia among the many fans dressed as Melanie from various staged of her career.
The Cry Baby portion of the set hit all of the marks with her early hits like “Doll House,” “Carousel,” and even the bonus track (which hit streaming peaks last year) “Play Date.” The set evolved from her crib, to blocks, and penultimately to a “Pity Party” set ablaze. Vocally, Martinez keeps improving and snags her notes even when some parts of her performance involved jumping around on stage swinging an axe.
After a brief interlude, a pre-recorded rendition of “The Principle” plays from her sophomore album K-12 while screens displayed messages of peace directed to the current events in Palestine and introduces us to the second act of the tour.
Act 2 follows Cry Baby as she enters high school and deals with the traumas of growing up. The mid-section of this tour is perhaps the shortest, but delivers on some fan favorites from the album. Some portions of this set are reminiscent of her previous performances during the actual K-12 tour.
Singing “High School Sweethearts” surrounded by some off-brand conversation heart candies with crude messages is the last we see of Cry Baby in her human form. Before a slightly longer interlude, Melanie’s stage persona is killed off and buried on stage.
Before reemerging as the pink fairy like creature from her Portals album cover, two dancers deliver a somber ballet over an orchestral instrumental. Then surrounded by candle light, Melanie’s Cry Baby is reborn in the after life in her final costume change.
If nothing else, you have to give Melanie Martinez credit for sticking to this character design. Her final act had her dancing on a set with full pyrotechnics delivering her most vocal heavy songs to date. A slightly longer interlude was a small payoff to see this character come to life on stage to perform eleven tracks from the album.
While during the set, there was little-to-no interaction with the crowd. During the final moments of the show Melanie expressed her love to the audience and thanked them for the love they showed in return. With that I will leave you with Melanie’s final words from her Trilogy Tour: “FREE PALESTINE”
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