Sarah Kinsley shines with new dream pop tracks at San Francisco’s August Hall
The alternative pop artist kicked off the California leg of her 2026 tour with a sold-out show
By SAVANNAH ANNO — arts@theaggie.org
On March 30, Sarah Kinsley kicked off the California leg of her “Fleeting” 2026 tour at San Francisco's August Hall. Out of her 30 planned stops — from Canada to Ireland to the United Kingdom — Kinsley noted that San Francisco was the very first city on the list to completely sell out of tickets. By 7 p.m., the general admission venue was filled with fans waiting to celebrate the alternative pop artist’s latest EP.
“Fleeting,” which debuted on Feb. 13 — just one week after Kinsley’s performance at ASUCD Entertainment Council’s BrainFreeze winter quarter concert — is an exploration of fast-fading feelings, changing life plans and the complexities of desire.
Following her debut album “Escaper” (2024), Kinsley’s six new tracks moved between experimental synth, traditional pop beats and gripping piano motifs reminiscent of her classical training. The collection proved to be a brief but punchy mixture of stirring ballads and ephemeral, 80s-esque dance tracks.
Upon the EP’s release, Kinsley took to social media to reflect on the primary motivations behind the eclectic record.
“This body of work is for the timelessness of desire,” Kinsley said via Instagram. “The ways we transcend our physical form when we long, when we chase, are a weird sort of proof of our aliveness.”
Opening the show with “Truth Of Pursuit,” the singer-songwriter set the stage for a show spent dancing away a collective yearning — the audience was encouraged to sing along to the very first lyrics of the night: “If only, baby, you were mine / I think about it almost every night on the line.”
After an upbeat start with some of her most popular tracks, Kinsley’s band exited the stage to leave room for a more emotional interlude in the middle of the show. With only Kinsley left, the singer took to her keyboard to begin a slew of ballads after performing “The Giver.”
Perhaps one of her most notable tracks with over 11 million streams on Spotify, “The Giver,” is exemplary of Kinsley’s artistry. Haunting vocals serve as their own instrument, accentuated by her signature use of a contact microphone, while drums hold down the rest of the track as Kinsley tells the story of unreciprocated love in a physical relationship.
“I’m doing this new thing where I sort of just scream at the end of that song [‘The Giver’],” Kinsley said. “I’m not gonna lie, it feels really good. If you knew what happened for me to write that song, you’d know it feels really good to scream.”
Following “The Giver” with an even more intimate moment, Kinsley dove into her two newest heartbreak anthems, “Reverie” and “After All” — both detailing the hopelessness and quiet longing that comes with the unexpected end of a relationship.
“The songs in this ballad section of the set are pretty vulnerable for me to sing,” Kinsley said. “They bring up a lot of past memories that are funny to be experiencing in front of a bunch of people, but it amazes me and makes me really grateful that you’re here and I can feel how present you are. To feel even slightly understood in one’s music is a total dream come true.”
After her intimate moment with the audience, Kinsley’s band rejoined the set to bring the audience’s energy back up. Covering Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” along with older fan-favorite tracks of her own — “Black Horse,” “The King” and “Oh No Darling!” — Kinsley’s upbeat dance moves invited the crowd to let loose, throwing their arms up and chanting along to each song.
“Everything about Sarah’s stage presence, I’ve learned from,” tour opener Becca Harvey, better known as Girlpuppy, said. “She is so good at dancing; I need to get on that level.”
Closing the night with her EP’s title track, “Fleeting,” Kinsley left audience members with a hopeful mantra to take home with them: “Things will turn around, they will turn around / It’s not forever, it’s just for now.”
Starting and ending on a high note, the cyclical nature of Kinsley’s set reflected not only the feelings within her latest record, but an emotional journey she hopes listeners can understand and relate to. Intense, dreamy and transformative, Kinsley’s August Hall performance was a beautiful love letter to longing.
Written by: Savannah Anno — arts@theaggie.org