SZA truly showed Washington, D.C. why she was named Billboard’s woman of the year for 2023 at her show on Feb. 27. SZA’s performance at Capital One Arena was more of a production than a concert, with fans on their feet and in awe the entire night.
Omar Apollo began the show by entrancing the audience with just his voice and a microphone. His performance was simple with few theatrics involved, besides a series of videos projected behind him. The images complemented the messages of his songs while keeping attention focused on his voice. Apollo kept the audience drawn in by shifting his energy and surrounding lights based on the song he sang, causing the audience to feel the emotions of each song.
The energy shifted the second the lights went out after Apollo’s opening. The crowd erupted in anticipation, and SZA teased the audience for a bit, introducing her “SOS Tour” on the main screen before revealing herself to the audience. She sat atop a makeshift diving board with an ocean projected below her, almost perfectly mirroring the cover of her album. She then dived – via projection – into the floor, kicking off the show with “Seek and Destroy.”
Although it was such a large venue the show still felt very intimate. The audience was completely engaged throughout the show, no matter where they were seated.
“There was such a beautiful energy in the room the whole night. Sometimes in the nosebleeds you don’t get the full feel of the show because of the crowd, but I didn’t see a single person sitting the whole time,” described Karlee Zohan, a junior at AU. “I felt like everyone in that arena was going through something different, but we all came together and we’re able to let it out at once”
SZA maintained the theme of her album throughout all 31 songs, which is a very impressive set list length. She took the audience through a shipwreck journey alongside her three backup dancers, all of which were incredibly talented and never gave less than 100% energy.
Mistakable for a professional dancer, SZA joined in on almost every one of the perfectly choreographed with perfect timing and precision while amazingly still singing. She also sported several seamless outfit changes that also stuck to the SOS theme, including a pirate-like black dress, to keep the audience on their toes.
There was no doubt from the scenery and props that the ticket sale money went to good use. After the live-streamed costume change during “Smoking on my Ex Pack,” the wall lifted to reveal SZA on an actual pirate ship (again following the theme).
She later caused an uproar in the crowd when she ascended onto a safety boat hanging from the overhead lights as she sang “Open Arms.” This also gave fans a bit farther back in the arena a better in-person look of SZA as she performed, which many fans appreciated.
”SZA does a great job connecting w her audience and the performance visually engaging from beginning to end,” said Isabella Cvrk, a sophomore at American who attended the concert. “The energy of the audience was great and you could really tell she has lots of passionate fans.”
Despite not directly engaging or being very talkative with her fans during the performance, SZA delivered a beautifully visually stimulating show that the audience couldn’t look away from. The crowd surged at the beginning of each performance, making it impossible to tell which songs were her hits. There were seamless segways between each song, making the 90 minutes fly by. This night truly showed fans that the five-year wait was worth it to see such a talented artist.