Pop-violin sensation Lindsey Stirling — known for her mix of hard-hitting violin, electrifying dance, and contemporary beats — will kick off her five-week US summer tour on Tuesday, August 1, in Bridgeport, CT at the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater.
Her recent cover of Led Zeppelin’s rock anthem “Kashmir” has also just been released and Stirling’s interpretation pays homage to the classic while giving it her own unmistakable spin.
We spoke with Stirling as she had finished up a show in Istanbul last week to learn more about her upcoming US tour, her influences, and her non profit, The Upside Fund, which helps people pay medical debts.
Can you tell us a little about the show and what fans can expect?
Absolutely. I am super, super stoked about this show. I mean, I feel like every time we go out on tour, we really push the envelope and just try to make new things that fans haven’t seen before. We try to just always be pushing ourselves, so it’s the very best show we can do. And this show is definitely that. We’re doing quite a bit of aerial work in it. I’ve been training in aerial for the last few years. And it’s been really fun to add that into the show in creative ways and find ways to play violin on trapezes and hoops.
I’m very, very excited about that element. We’ve also got five incredible dancers that are my warriors on stage. They’re just so strong and fierce and elegant. They’re all the things. So I’m really excited to share the stage with these amazing women. My band is incredible. It’s just a really, really fun set. I am pretty proud of the show we’ve made. And one thing I really stand by is that I like to make a show that even if someone came that had never heard my music, or maybe they got, you know, brought by their wife and they’re not really even a fan, I really feel confident that they would still walk away being like, “oh, well that was actually very entertaining.”
That’s what I’ve heard from anyone who’s ever come to a show that maybe wasn’t a fan. We usually win everybody over.
Tell me more about the process of aerial training.
I first started kind of experimenting with aerial stuff in 2020 during the pandemic. I thought, “Hey, this is a perfect time to kind of start to lean into a new skill.” And so I started training in aerial work and it’s been really fun in kind of the same way you find your instruments or your style of music. I kind of had to find my apparatus that I love and I ended up really liking the hoop. That’s my favorite. But I also do a little bit of trapeze. And, you know, for the first bit it was all about learning to just build the amount of strength that you need.
I’ve never been a strong person. I’ve never been able to do pull-ups before. Like the gym was not my strong suit. But it’s really cool, when you challenge your body and when you push it — and at the age of 36, for the first time, I can do pull-ups.
So yeah, it’s been a really fun. I mean, I guess I’ve always felt like I was a bit of a circus person at heart. There’s circus people and there’s non-circus people. The spirit of someone who joins the circus is someone who’s pretty adventurous and very curious and willing to just try different things, and fail many times until they figure out how to make something that’s maybe never been done before work. And that’s why I just love and relate so much to circus people… It’s been really cool to lean into that side of me.
Who are your musical influences?
Oh man, my influences are everywhere from classical music to John Williams. “John Williams’ Greatest Hits” was the first album I ever bought. Amy Lee from Evanescence was a huge inspiration to me when I was younger and still is today. Also Skrillex, like when he first started coming to the dubstep scene and was kind of taking it mainstream, he inspired me so much.
Can you talk about your new rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”?
We’ve been performing live on stage and the reaction from the crowd, the energy that you feel from a classic like that, it’s just so, so fun.
“Kashmir” has always been one of my favorite rock songs and I’m so excited I got to work with the legendary producers Howard Benson and Neil Sanderson on imagining a way to bring it to life in my style.
Can you talk about The Upside Fund? I saw that you help people pay medical debts. Can you talk a little bit about your inspiration for starting this and some of the work you’ve done?
I’ve been doing it for quite a few years. The inspiration originally came from just having loved ones go through our medical system process and seeing how difficult it is. And, you know, my best friend and my dad both passed away from cancer and I watched them struggle trying to figure out how this system works. It’s just heartbreaking what happens to people when they’re going through the biggest struggle of their life and they have to then worry about how to pay for it.
I wanted to help people pay off medical bills and medical debt and that’s where it all started. It’s been really cool to see it grow over the years. We bought several million dollars of medical debt last year, which is really exciting. And it’s just continuing to grow. We’re donating money from the merch this tour to the Upside Fund to help continue to make it grow.