Clairo & Alice Phoebe Lou

On Tuesday, December 17th, Clairo played the second of three final acts of her 2024 ‘Charm’ tour at Toronto’s very own Massey Hall. Originally known as more of a bedroom/indie pop sensation blowing up off of her Macbook-recorded song and music video “Pretty Girl”, her latest musical effort the aforementioned 2024 project Charm (QRO review) and tour take to a much larger scale, the living room. Charm was co-produced by Clairo and Leon Michels of El Michels Affair.

Originally scheduled to play a three-day run of shows beginning on October 23rd, Clairo abruptly cancelled these shows due to extreme exhaustion. Although a disappointment for fans lined up the day of, extended tours understandably run hard on the mind and body of performers, and Clairo stated she wished to be able to put on the best show possible for those paying to be in attendance. Clairo has been supported throughout the tour and on Tuesday night by indie folk sensation Alice Phoebe Lou, whose latest project Shelter was released last year, and favorite “Glow” in 2021.

Lou began awkwardly but charmingly saying that her band could not make it that night to the show, and that she was going to be performing solo, that she had never done so in front of so many people, and was doing so jetlagged. Tuning her guitar, Lou joked how she was nervous for tonight, but she had walked in the cold aimlessly around Toronto and strolled into a massage parlor, and from there she felt free and loose. After the crowd had responded with laughter, Lou went into a stripped down version of her song “Touch”.  Despite the cold in Toronto, Lou’s vocals were the first sensation that gave real chills. Kissing the microphone singing, “I’ve been lonely since I woke up,” she pulled herself back at times and swayed her upper half left and right, changing the direction of her vocals in the microphone, creating angelic vocals panning and echoing throughout Massey. Many of Lou’s songs are written with deep lust for a past partner(s), often bringing up their body, and it felt honest. The desperation in the high notes of her voice during “My imagination can only go so far, only go so far” was filled with love, a longing for what once was.

Lou continued her set, swapping between playing guitar and keys solo. Somebody yelled “I love you” to her as she swapped and she shrieked in shock then giggles. The vibe in the room was familiar, while she played guitar it felt like one was listening to the best open mic set of your life, and while playing keys as the purple spotlight shone on her purple dress, one was reminded of movie scenes featuring a female singer at a grand piano in a fine dining restaurant. Her hands slammed down on the keys, hopping up and down as she went into “Driveby”. Singing, “Oh, the loss of you, the loss of you / Will haunt me through and through” continued the yearning for the past. At two points in her set, Lou abruptly stopped and asked the spotlight to be shone on the crowd for an audience member who needed help. Usually only see things like this at shows involving mosh pits, but Lou may just have been making the calm, swaying crowd faint. Both times she casually went back into her tracks without missing a beat after they were safely tended to.

Throughout her set, Lou continued talking back and forth to the crowd, and she played a rendition of “Harvest Moon” by Toronto native Neil Young, with large fanfare. She played through the rest of her set, including her new single “Better” and the titular track “Glow” off of her 2021 effort. She slightly rushed off stage since she was over time, and one couldn’t help but notice how throughout her set how accurate her singing voice was to her recorded versions.

The crowd filled in as more Clairo fans checked in, and the curtains raise to reveal a multilayered stage set design inspired by ‘70s era living rooms. Five-to-six instrumentalists joined Clairo with around twelve different instruments. Clairo and her band walked onto the stage as a group amongst much larger cheers, sitting on the ground near a table and raised a glass to celebrate. Clairo proceeded to go into her first song, “Nomad”. After a solo instrumental set by Alice Phoebe Lou with no rhythm sections, the first kick drum of Clairo’s set pounded the ears of the crowd with a large contrast in tone. The soundscape was much fuller, featuring different versions of keys, guitar, and bass. Lights shone through golden circles in the set background and faded in and out with the ups and downs of the song, and the visual contrast was also apparent.

Clairo headed into her second song, fittingly, “Second Nature”. Clairo sang, “And once you get in my ear, I see kismet sinking in” followed by a loud “WHAT” and the audience burst, loudly calling back, “It’s second nature!”, for the first large participation by a largely swaying crowd. After, Clairo stopped for a second to address the crowd and talked a bit about a girl at the night before’s show who did a cartwheel and ripped her pants doing a split. The girl was in the audience again, and Clairo acknowledges that she got new pants.

Clairo strolled around the stage and continued into “Softly” while a large cylindrical light the size of a third of the stage slowly came down, similar to a UFO. The guitar line was very Steve Lacy-esque, and at another point there was a long synth solo and gentle classical piano outro. Clairo played some older tunes, including “Flaming Hot Cheetos”, “How”, and “Bambi”. The band’s funky bass lines continually impressed, smacky drums with barrages of cymbal hits, and soulful organ synths. Clairo’s vocals stood well in the mix.

At times Clairo also played guitar herself, and during the final leg of the set the energy picked up tremendously. The final three songs “Bags”, “Sexy to Someone”, and “Juna”, some of her biggest hits, Clairo could have practically stopped singing with how the crowd was belting every word. Other band members had notable solo moments too on guitar, saxophone, and even the flute.

After “Sexy to Someone”, Clairo asked the crowd if anybody would like to come on stage to compete for who could do the mouth trumpet part of “Juna” the best. After inviting three people on stage, a fourth did not quit in the crowd and convinced Clairo to allow her on stage as well. The four of them introduced themselves (the fourth who convinced Clairo to allow them up said he was “born for this”) and then go one by one trying their best mouth trumpet. The first two attempts smacked their lips which felt a bit jarring, and as Clairo watches nervously as the crowd laughed (all in good fun, right?). The third contestant did a simple mouth trumpet akin enough to the version in the song that is believable and the crowd cheers. Lastly, the fourth contestant, who introduced himself as Micah, grabbed the microphone off the stand and started mouth trumpeting his heart out, red in the face with energy and bending his body back and forth like a generational saxophone player. Micah screamed to the crowd, they screamed back, and everyone was happy & there was a clear winner. Micah received a T-shirt and we hear the final song, the hyped up “Juna”.

This was a great and silly send off. Clairo did a slightly extended version with some instrumental solos and an extra hook on the end, the lights went down, Clairo thanked everyone who witnessed a great show.

All in all, this was a great evening. Clairo, her band, and Alice Phoebe Lou all respectfully did an amazing job with a good variety of auditorial moments and visuals to match. All who attended felt the “Charm” of the group.