SZA at TD Garden
On February 28th, the sixth show of her “SOS Tour” at Boston’s TD Garden, SZA brought her acclaimed second studio album of the same name to life. The St. Louis native’s recent album has had chart-topping success since its release on December 9th,2022. Debuting as No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for seven consecutive weeks, in addition to three additional weeks in late February. SZA, along with winning Billboard’s Woman of Year, is one of eight artists to ever have an album at No. 1 for ten weeks and currently holds the most weeks at No. 1 for a female artist in nearly seven years.
Filling the Garden with blue waves of light, SZA started the show off stunning the audience, projecting a self portrait amongst a vast ocean with her sitting on top on a diving board. SZA, plunged into the ocean around her mere moments after the concert began, cemented an air of electricity and excitement that didn’t leave the stadium until her last number.
SZA’s visual and artistic expressions did not stop for her closing song. “Good Days” painted a compelling portrait of the beauty of SZA’s lyrics through the most impressive visuals of the night. An beautiful sunset created the stunning background to SZA sitting on the diving board from her performance of the first song. The full-circle ending gave a fulfilling close to the non-stop exciting night.
From reminiscent additions to the setlist, such as “Kiss Me More” and “All the Stars,” to serenading the audience while floating around the stadium on a boat, SZA’s performance was an unforgettable voyage through her album and a meaningful glimpse into the emotions tied to each song.
SZA is a true story teller and performer. She managed to tell a story with every single song she played, which was absolutely incredible to witness.
Photos by Tara Demers