FLETCHER AT THE FILLMORE IN SILVER SPRING
“This can’t actually be the line to get in, can it?” I asked myself as I cruised slowly down Cameron Street, halfway around the block from The Fillmore Silver Spring. Of course it’s the line. I’m surprised, because it’s pushing 8:30 and doors opened at 7PM, but I shouldn’t be. In the last eight months alone, New Jersey born FLETCHER has toured extensively in North America, Europe, and Australia to much acclaim, and has recently embarked on her second headlining tour of 2022 in support of her first full length album, Girl of My Dreams, which dropped on September 16th and debuted at number fifteen on the US Billboard 200.
FLETCHER’s passionate and primarily queer fanbase has shown up in droves since the “Girl of My Dreams Tour” kicked off October 11th in Orlando, and if the show in Silver Spring, MD is any indication, they will continue to sell out the remainder of the nineteen venues in the United States and Canada before the tour concludes in Los Angeles on November 18th.
As she continued to win hearts as much with her authentic social media presence as with her big voice and raw, relatable lyrics, it is abundantly clear to me that there will soon be no need for modesty when booking venues for future tours. The Fillmore was absolutely packed to its capacity of 2,000 tonight, and it felt like there wasn’t a single corner or cranny unoccupied. When I left the photo pit it was my intention to watch the rest of the show from the back of the crowd, but I quickly discovered that there was no “back of the crowd”. I eventually waded through a sea of bodies and posted up right against the back wall. Even there, personal space was at a premium, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying every bit of the nineteen song set.
The lack of space didn’t seem to put a damper on anyone else’s enjoyment, either. The crowd jumped and swayed as one for nearly an hour and a half. FLETCHER took us all on a roller coaster ride of her high octane pop hits like “girls girls girls”, “Undrunk',' and “Becky’s So Hot”, and more subdued, self-aware album cuts including “Better Version”, “If I Hated You”, and the cathartic, “For Cari”, a song she wrote for herself but had every person in the room screaming the lyrics with as much conviction as they screamed along to her unexpected cover of Britney Spears’ “If U Seek Amy”. She was unfiltered, dropping frequent f-bombs, and disarming as she laughed and joked with her fans in a way that made it so clear that she loves them just as much as they love her. Her honest, sometimes irreverent songwriting, translated beautifully to a live show, and her powerhouse vocals were undeniable.
What struck me nearly as much as FLETCHER’s dynamic, effervescent stage presence and clear-as-a-bell voice, was the sense of community and camaraderie in the crowd. As an unapologetically, messy, imperfect human who also happens to be openly queer, she has created a space for anyone and everyone in attendance, right down to the security personnel, one of whom remarked excitedly to me before the show started, “A room full of queer women, I love it! It feels so safe.” Safe and seen, it’s no wonder that as the crowd dispersed at the end of the show, there was a sense of lightness and joy, but also the audible chatter of disappointment that it was over from fans who will no doubt be chasing that Cari Fletcher high until the next time she’s in town.