I saw Laufey’s “A Matter of Time” tour last Thursday at Capital One Arena, her third-to-last show of the U.leg. After seeing her live, I can say I could not be more grateful that I scrambled to the Ticketmaster line during school hours earlier this year.
It’s risky to buy tickets to a tour before you’ve heard the album—which is a new standard I loathe in buying concert tickets—but Laufey nailed her third studio album. You can check out the overwhelmingly positive album review I wrote in September.
Similarly to what I did when I attended Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” tour last year (again, check out my review), I went in blind to the concert. Except this time I went a little less strict about it. all I knew was the setlist, nothing about the visuals, outfits, set. So I strolled up to Capital One in my skirt, bow and Converse, not knowing what to expect from the show.
It turned out that Laufey split up her show into acts, each of which was accompanied by a different vibe and list of songs. She opened the show with Act I and the first track on “A Matter of Time,” “Clockwork,” which has become one of my favorites on the record because of its jazzier feel than the rest of the tracklist.
Act I set a standard for incredible visuals for the rest of the show. The backdrop, lighting, projections all fit Laufey’s whimsical vibe perfectly. I felt like I was in an old Disney movie. It was perfectly nostalgic.
Act I also surprised me by demonstrating a more extensive performance than I expected. I was expecting a show more along the lines of Laufey standing on stage with a microphone and an orchestra playing, and that’s it.
But no. She had dancers, lots of musicians, a beautiful set, outfit changes, you name it. And she managed to up her performance while also remaining true to her understated, not-exactly-music-you-would-dance-to discography. She found the perfect balance between theatricality and intimacy.
Closing Act I with new ballad “Too Little, Too Late,” Laufey showed off her incredible, classically developed vocals. In her live introduction, she told the crowd that she feels like some songs are just meant to be performed live, and I certainly share that sentiment with her in relation to this track.
After “Too Little, Too Late,” she moved into Act II, my favorite of the show. She told the audience she wanted to find a way to make an arena full of thousands of people to feel like an intimate jazz club—and she did just that. In particular, the lighting in Act II, especially during “Valentine” was absolutely stunning.
In Act II, she performed jazz renditions of her songs and a beautiful cover of Guy Lombardo’s “Seems Like Old Times.” Her execution of the jazz renditions of songs including “Fragile,” “Valentine” and “While You Were Sleeping” was incredible. It’s very hit or miss when artists perform different versions of popular songs, but she pulled it off perfectly.
Although Act III was only three songs long, it still stands strong. The highlight of this act was her performance of “Forget-me-Not,” an orchestral tribute to her homeland of Iceland. Her vocals were stunning, the orchestra killed it, everything about it was wonderful.
Laufey closed the act with “Cuckoo Ballet – Interlude,” an instrumental track on the album. She took this as a chance to highlight her dancers—who are unfortunately my only negative take on this show.
She only has four dancers, which is an awkward number. Three or five would’ve been more visually appealing. But most importantly, her dancers were not executing their choreography well.
They were sloppy the entire show and not one time did I see them dancing in sync. It got to the point where I had to pretend they didn’t exist because it was so distracting to Laufey’s performance. But as long as I focused on Laufey’s individual performance, I could get over it.
Act IV, this is the strongest act setlist of the show. It featured my favorite performance of the night, “Promise.” This was surprising to me because although I certainly enjoy this song, it’s by no means one of my favorites. But something about the combination of her crystal-clear vocals and the audience’s resonation with the lyrics made it my favorite track of the night.
Act IV also included another one of my favorite live performances, this time of “Goddess,” my all-time favorite Laufey song. I am forever grateful that I got to hear this song live at least once in my life. This is another song, like “Too Little, Too Late,” that was simply destined for the stage.
After yet another incredible Act, Laufey moved into her last of the night, one that only included one song: “Sabotage.” Because “Sabotage” has a pretty intense outro, it makes sense to close her set. Once again, her lighting elevated the performance of this track immensely.
But wait. There’s an encore. Little did I know that Laufey has a “surprise song” section for each show. After Taylor Swift pioneered the tradition of artists performing exclusive songs at each tour date, I have loved to see it expand to other artists, now including Laufey.
I am thrilled to say that D.C. got to hear “Just Like Chet’s” live debut. Because D.C. is Laufey’s U.S. hometown, she wanted to perform a song she wrote in her D.C. bedroom, leading us to this incredibly lucky song selection.
After “Just Like Chet,” Laufey closed the show with the deeply sentimental “Letter to My 13 Year Old Self.” It was heartwarming to see how deeply the audience related to this track, and incredible to see Laufey realizing how far she’s come in her career while performing in front of thousands.
Although it’s clear that I loved the setlist and the general performance of this tour, my standout takeaway was how deeply personal everything felt. Every moment Laufey interacted with the crowd felt intimate and non-performative.
Through elements like choosing a “Best Dressed Guest” and putting fan signs up on the screen for the five minutes before Laufey took the stage.
It’s clear that Laufey loves what she does, loves performing and loves her fans. It was incredible to feel her humbleness and affection for her fans radiating off of her throughout the show. She gave the fans, including myself, the experience of a lifetime.
