Within St. Vincent’s song “Marrow,” the lyrics of “help me” in the chorus stand out for their repetition and urgency.

Annie Clark, who performs as St. Vincent, received plenty of help – not that the gifted guitarist/songwriter truly needs it – Tuesday night from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in a stirring performance.

In a summer trek that will see her team with symphonies across the country, Clark opened the tour at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh with an expansion of her already diverse sound. (Although she’s performing with a variety of orchestras, she brought along trusted hands to ensure consistency: conductor Jules Buckley; Rachel Eckroth on keys; Robert Ellis on guitar; Allee Futterer on bass; and John Hadfield on drums.)

Clearly, there had been some interest in this concert, with the crowd of more than 2,000 including fans who traveled from as far away as Oklahoma and Alaska. The inspiration for this tour came from a performance last year on the BBC, with an accompanying “Live in London!” album in March.

There might not be another modern rock artist’s music that is more tailor-made for a symphonic treatment than St. Vincent. (She even credited Disney scores for inspiration on her 2009 album, “Actor.”) Over the course of 85 minutes, the six-time Grammy Award winner played the role of vamp, enchantress and guitar virtuoso, just to name a few.

After the instrumental “We Put a Pearl in the Ground,” Clark hit the stage with the symphony for a trifecta of songs from “All Born Screaming,” her most recent album. For “Hell Is Near,” Clark sang, emotive while standing still with her fingers, arms and feet crossed before a zipping ending. The unsettling “Reckless” had Clark crouching on the big blasts, while a sultry “Violent Times” channeled serious James Bond vibes.

“Welcome to Live in Pittsburgh,” Clark declared.

“Black Rainbow” was one of seven songs where she played guitar, in this case unleashing a sinister riff with the orchestra building tension beneath it before an abrupt end. Other guitar highlights from Clark included a brief but squealing solo on “Marrow,” the chill “Live in the Dream” and some crunchiness on “Paris Is Burning.”

The symphony created extra layers and texture on cinematic songs like “Smoking Section” and “The Nowhere Inn,” while “Digital Witness” had Clark sauntering around the stage, at times jerkily dancing and posing like a puppet afterward.

 

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As a performance artist, Clark commands attention, whether it’s the disaffected look on “Los Ageless” or a legit smile sneaking out during “The Party.” Her lipstick increasingly took a beating as the show went on, too.

On a joyous “New York,” Clark hugged one fan and kissed another’s hand from the stage before hopping down. She proceeded to sit on one fan’s lap, shake hands and plant a few more kisses before her return to the stage. Alas, Heinz Hall might not have been the right venue for crowdsurfing, as she did during “New York” in her last time here.

The regular set closed with “Paris is Burning,” with a salute to Buckley and the orchestra before the encore. After the brief break, a quick encore of “Slow Disco” closed the show to well-deserved applause.

Missing: Because of the complexity of the arrangements, the setlist stayed pretty close to the “Live in London” album. Three songs were dropped from performance: “I Prefer Your Love,” “The Strangers” and “Candy Darling.” Of her most-played songs otherwise, omissions included “Cheerleader,” “Cruel,” “Birth in Reverse,” “Your Lips Are Red” and “Rattlesnake.”

The merch: Tour posters were $40 (or signed for $100), with T-shirts at $40, sweatshirts at $70 and vinyl ranging from $30 to $45.

For the record: In a May interview with TribLive, St. Vincent (the singer) said she was unaware of St. Vincent (the college): “I had not, but it sounds like it’s worth a visit.”

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Last time here: St. Vincent brought her All Born Screaming tour to Stage AE on April 13, 2025.

What’s up next: The symphony tour continues on June 4 with the Boston Pops Orchestra at the Boston Symphony Hall.

Ruby Plume

St. Vincent tapped alternative folk singer-songwriter Ruby Plume, a fellow Berklee College of Music graduate, to open the show.

Plume, whose “Spinstress” EP came out in January, weaved a dreamy, poetic set that included covers of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, as well as six originals, closing with the yet-to-be-released “Only Boxer.”

Plume said the Heinz Hall performance was “the biggest place I ever looked out to” and joked about the symphony instruments triggering “a little throwback PTSD” since she played cello in the third grade.

St. Vincent setlist

We Put a Pearl in the Ground

Hell Is Near

Reckless

Violent Times

Black Rainbow

Marrow

The Bed

Smoking Section

Now, Now

Live in the Dream

The Nowhere Inn

Digital Witness

Los Ageless

The Party

New York

Paris Is Burning

Encore

Slow Disco