On Oct. 24, I had the chance to see Laufey and Suki Waterhouse for the “Matter of Time Tour” at Xfinity Mobile Area in Philadelphia. It ended up being one of the best shows I’ve seen, if not the very best. Her visuals, vocals, and overall stage presence made it a touching night for the entire audience.
Due to lines, traffic, and various other factors, I only got to hear Suki Waterhouse perform a few songs, including “To Love,” “Good Looking,” and “Moves”. She sounded pretty much identical to her studio vocals, which is always refreshing to see. She had a very ethereal stage presence and matched the energy of the songs very well. While I didn’t get to see a ton of her performance, the parts I did see were amazing, and she definitely was a good pick for Laufey’s opener.
The concert was split into five acts and an encore. Laufey opened the show with the first song from her album “A Matter of Time”, “Clockwork”. The sets were beautiful- clearly inspired by some of the vintage elements that inspired the music itself. Most importantly, her voice was incredible. I think that she sounds even better live than on the recording. I feel that you can really hear her emotions in her live vocals.
Act one, other than “Clockwork,” featured the songs “Lover Girl”, “Dreamer”, “Falling Behind”, “Silver Lining”, and “Bored”. The act ended with “Too Little, Too Late,” also off of her new album. The instrumentals sounded fantastic, and the track segued right into a string portion containing some music from the song “Bewitched,” the title track off of her second album.
Act two (my favorite act) was a jazz segment. I’ve always loved Laufey for including jazz elements in her songs, but this was definitely the most authentic jazz I’ve heard from her. She started the act with a cover, “Seems Like Old Times,” originally written by Carmen Lombardo and previously covered by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald. This track is also a featured track on the standard edition of “A Matter of Time”. She played jazz versions of her songs “Valentine”, “Fragile”, and “While You Were Sleeping”. I loved hearing the version of “While You Were Sleeping, as it is one of my favorite songs by her. She ended the act with a regular version of her song “Let You Break My Heart Again”, which was amazing live and made me hold back tears for a little.
Acts three and four were just as amazing as the first two, containing an eclectic variety of songs from her new album and older albums. I teared up at “Goddess” and was singing along to “From the Start” only a few songs later. She organized the setlist in a way that was effective for a good listening experience. Throughout these acts, she chatted with the audience and announced the “best dressed” guest of the night, who wore a dress split into two parts inspired by the content of “A Matter of Time”, happiness and sadness. There were also appearances from Mei Mei the Bunny and the Philly Phanatic. You can definitely tell how much Laufey cares about her fans – she interacted with the audience pretty frequently, in a very sincere way. Between these interactions and the songs themselves, there was frequent incorporation of classical music, with a live string quartet and a couple of minutes of Laufey’s cello playing. There were also a few dancers who accompanied some of her songs.
The final act only contained one song, “Sabotage”, the last song from “A Matter of Time”’s tracklist. After this song and a quick break, Laufey came back to perform an encore, including the surprise song. The surprise song for Philadelphia was “Questions for the Universe,” off of her very first album, “Everything I Know About Love”. This is a pretty rare song for her to play live, which made it all the more exciting and meaningful.
Finally, she ended the show with “Letter to my 13 Year Old Self,” which has now become one of my favorite songs. I’m not usually a crier, but I genuinely cried during her performance of this song. I was also at the concert with my mom, so it created a very special moment for both of us. As always, her vocals were amazing, as well as the messages she said to the audience, urging them to follow their dreams and believe that many things we may not think are possible are actually possible after all.
Overall, as I walked out of the arena, I definitely felt like that was the best concert I’ve ever been to. From the amazing sets, the live strings and other instruments, the respectful audience, and the songs themselves, the experience was one I’ll always remember.
I think it’s very important for people to have safe spaces in concerts, and this concert certainly felt like a safe space. Everybody was dressed up amazingly for the occasion, with outfits varying from ball gowns to fairy wings to clock-themed costumes to handmade crowns. It was so different from some other concerts I’ve been to, and felt very intimate despite the large size of the audience. If you ever have the chance to see Laufey live, I would highly recommend it- she’s an amazing performer. For now, I will be wearing my concert merch and preparing to order her Mei Mei the Bunny book, which comes out in April.
