Concert Review: Andrea Von Kampen Casts The Spell

When we are kids, being “grown-up” feels like a passage to “independence.” Adultfreedom right? Freedom to fall in love. Freedom to party. Freedom to choose their purpose and path in career. Freedom TO HAVE MONEY!…..Or do they? For Andrea Von Kampen, at Rockwood, her music was about the deception of growing up, and how you oddly find the truest joy in realizing that you are free to grow up but you do not grow up to be free. 

Bills! Heartbreaks! Existential Crisis! I saw a TikTok satire where a man had his “positive self” cometo visit his “sad self” as if he was a dad visiting his child and absolutely leaving once the visitation was done. People laughed and commented “can relate,” but Van Kampen’s music is for when you can neither cry or laugh at the fact that the best of you feels like an occasional, family member visiting rather than a permanent partner in your home. The quietness of her performance matched with her wry smile and wit amplified the messages of songs such as, “The Wait” and “Wedding Song,” to kind of awaken people: becoming an adult is not about getting a better life as much getting better at life. Hence, why some of us still feel like kids, despite doing the adult things we swore, as children, would us give us freedom like, getting money, falling in love, and partying after work. Things that seem great, but are more complicated. 

While it was a brief, brisk set that perhaps felt quick because it was sweetly pensive. The strange thing about the past two years, in New York, is that, despite being stopped, people’s minds were still racing. We were forced in place while still maintaining the same energy this city taught us to have: grow up, hustle, and be free to do both. Andrea writes the songs for those of us that realize a city or “adulting” is not freedom, but a good song the makes you think about life, feel in your heart alive, and carries you through the rich vocals of a smart woman with a simple guitar….. that feels freeing.