Shannon Curtis: The Good to Me Tour

“Combining elements of concerts, TED Talks and visual art, the show places the album’s 1980s-inspired synthpop numbers in the context of what inspired them: climate change, rising fascism, and Curtis’s anxiety about — and hope for — the future.” — Emily Hamilton, Seven Days VT

How will empathetic people survive the troubles of this time? How do we rescue our overburdened spirits from overlapping disasters such as rising fascism and climate collapse? And from where can we summon the power to heal ourselves, our communities, and the planet?

These are the animating questions behind Shannon Curtis’s new album and show Good to Me — her second collection of shimmering 80s-inspired synthpop in as many years.

Confronted in early 2022 with near-paralyzing anxiety brought about by the increasingly fraught state of the world, Curtis aimed her angst at her journal. Using tools she acquired in 12-step recovery, she set out on a quest for self-healing, with the intention of nurturing her personal sense of peace and agency in a world on fire.

The result is a song journey that took Curtis through a practice of identifying failed coping mechanisms (“From the Inside Out”), coming to terms with radical acceptance (“Be With What Is”), learning to trust her inner truth (“The Silent Sea”), and reconnecting to her serenity and power (“I Am”) — even as the world continued to burn.

With their move into theater spaces, Curtis and her husband, record producer Jamie Hill, have designed an immersive and joyful narrative journey of personal empowerment — complete with high-energy musical performance, scripted storytelling, and enveloping large-scale video art. More than a show, it’s an experience — intended to leave you a little different than it found you.