Sarah Kinsley Mesmerizes Music Box with Girlpuppy

Last Wednesday night, Sarah Kinsley brought the Fleeting Tour to Music Box in San Diego, and brought the crowd into her dreamy, enchanting world of music. Kinsley comes from a classical and orchestra background, and began producing and releasing her own music in 2019, and her debut album Escaper in 2024. Most recently, Kinsley released an EP titled Fleeting, a beautiful body of work about intense emotions and their impermanence. The crowd’s anticipation grew and grew as the venue filled to the brim for the sold out show. The lights went down for Girlpuppy, the opening set of the night.

Girlpuppy is an indie rock artist, touring her most recent album released last year, Sweetness. On the albums’ anniversary this year, she announced a deluxe version, coming out May 29th, starting with a cover of Charli XCX’s I might say something stupid. Her performance was energetic and fun. She rocked the stage from the sad songs to the fun ones and had the crowd jumping along. The audience was warmed up and ready for the main act.

Sarah Kinsley’s performance was nothing short of a dream sequence. From the moment she glided onto the stage she owned and commanded it, her stage presence putting the crowd in a trance. Wearing a flowy off-white linen dress, the backing stage lights shone through her silhouette as she sang and leapt across the stage. She sang with her whole body, moving her hands up into the air like she was spell-casting. Her vocals are enchanting, ranging from soft, breathy and ethereal to deeper, grounded and almost operatic moments. She spent parts of the set singing from and playing keyboard, the gorgeous melodies blending with her striking voice. Her band even left the stage for her to do two songs on her own, one of which being an older song, I’m Not A Mountain. She spoke about feeling an intense emotional connection to the song when she wrote it, one that she feels to this day as she plays it on this tour. You could tell it is a special song to many fans, as the room stilled, in awe during the ballad. Towards the end of the set, Kinsley sang a gorgeously fun and crowd pleasing cover, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, by Tears for Fears. By this point, the audience had fully let loose and was collectively dancing the night away.

The final emotional release came with the set closer, the tours’ namesake, Fleeting. Fans and friends were dancing holding hands, screaming lyrics that rang true in real time, “It’s not forever, it’s just a feeling, it’s not forever, it’s only fleeting.”