I've often heard artists ask audiences to quiet down and pay attention, but Saturday night at the Fine Line might have been the first time I've heard an artist observe that an audience wasn't distracted enough.

"You guys are so polite and quiet but also f---ing terrifying," said Savannah Conley with a wry smile as she took a minute to tune her guitar. "Like, do you want to talk amongst yourselves?"

The audience's intense enthusiasm later had headliner Samia collapsing to the stage, awash in adulation and rising to shake her head in happy disbelief. "You can't do this!" she said jokingly to the crowd that would not tire of showering her with love.

Throughout the night, hands made hearts in the air and people shouted their love — in a very pure, positive way — to Samia. They showed up on time and ready to pay attention to opener Conley as well; she's made local fans with earlier appearances including a spot opening for Brandi Carlile at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand in 2019.

For a sense of the demographic that predominated at the 18+ show, the crowd positively exploded between sets when the pre-show playlist landed on "Brutal," the opener to Olivia Rodrigo's zeitgeist-riding album Sour. Sincere, smartly written guitar-driven pop rock is booming on gen-Z playlists this year; Samia's spirit of wistful hopefulness and playful fun sounds a welcome note in this uncertain era.

Conley, a singer-songwriter who represents "the new Nashville," has tight ties of friendship to both Samia and Samia's collaborator (as well as boyfriend) Briston Maroney; the headliner later invited both onstage to sing backup vocals on "As You Are." The opening track on her 2021 EP Scout is "about them," said the grinning artist, who embraced the two arm-in-arm as they wrapped up the song about acceptance.

While Samia's entire fall tour has been a hit, her Minneapolis date had special resonance. "I say 'Minneapolis' and 'Minnesota' in so many of my songs," she said onstage, "I feel like a poseur!"

She's entitled to her feelings, but Samia's local ties are real: after sharing a tour bill with Hippo Campus, the 24-year-old artist struck up a creative partnership with the band members that led to her debut (and, to date, only) LP, The Baby, being recorded in Minneapolis with the band's Jake Luppen and Nathan Stocker on board as producers alongside fellow Minnesotan Caleb Hinz.

(Check out this Alt Citizen conversation for a deep dive into the connections between Luppen and Samia, who moved to Nashville during the pandemic.)

While on record Samia's music is warm tending toward reflective, on stage it's more like warm tending toward explosive. Exulting in her return to live shows, the singer-songwriter seemed to be having an absolute blast for the duration of her 16-song set (including encore "21"), waving her arms theatrically and breaking into loose, ballet-inspired interpretive dance as her four-person band rocked out.

The band wore pajamas (matching silks for the instrumentalists, a frilly pink nightgown for Samia), while the audience wore masks. Of the handful of live music shows I've attended in the post-vaccine era, Saturday's was the first one where I've felt peer pressure to keep my mask on rather than vice versa. With phones largely kept in pockets — I felt like a jerk for constantly turning mine on to take notes — it was the kind of raptly attentive, diligently respectful audience that reminded me of seeing Prince at Paisley Park.

Set highlights included an exuberant "Fit N Full," a sassy "Limbo Bitch," and a poignant "Waverly." Samia shares Jenny Lewis's gift for crafting piquant, detailed observations into richly melodic songs, and her live show highlights her similar ability to pivot into a soaring high range to accentuate a lyrical punch.

"This song's called 'Minnesota,'" said Samia, introducing an understandably crowd-pleasing number near the end of her set. "I wrote it about Minnesota." No wonder she likes writing songs about escaping to the Gopher State. "I'm gonna pass out," she said earlier in the show. "You guys are so nice!"

Savannah Conley

Samia