Does it get much better than a stadium college show? At the start of a brand new school year at Stanford University, hordes of undergrads (and even younger local listeners) are queuing in blazing 40-degree heat, forming a long, languid crocodile of bows and prairie skirts and tube tops and Doc Marten Mary Janes. You can tell a lot about an artist by the way their fans dress, and while tonight’s audience are pleasingly diverse, something about this show feels like a particular triumph for girlhood, following the cues of a bumper summer for femme artists who openly embrace their sapphic desires.
Kicking things off is Alice Phoebe Lou, the South African singer-songwriter who has slow-burned her way to streaming success via five studio albums and a recent side project, Strongboi. With an arsenal of lilting surf melodies to her name, she handles a few technical and crowd safety hitches like a champ, picking right up again whenever she has to pause. Filling the cavernous outdoor amphitheatre with her voice, ‘Touch’ and ‘Glow’ are particular highlights, inviting everyone to kick back on their picnic blankets and let the soft, fuzzy guitars wash over them as the sky grows dark. ‘Over The Moon’ is also pretty special (“Let’s do a quiet one; I feel like you’re really listening tonight,” remarks Alice), but the biggest cheer is reserved for ‘Dirty Mouth’, an upbeat skiffle about taking no shit and giving as good as you get.
Phoebe Lou’s polite defiance is the perfect foil for Clairo, who begins tonight’s set clustered around with her bandmates in a corner of the stage, toasting and laughing as if cast back in time into a 1970s conversation pit. With glittery curtains and graduated plinths for her band to perform from, the overall effect is tastefully nostalgic, all beige and brown and gold with the artist herself recognisable from the very back in a stripy off-shoulder dancing dress.
‘Nomad’ and ‘Second Nature’ go off without a hitch, but it’s ‘Thank You’ that really settles us into the evening, a live flute embroidering the melodies. Next to the boom-bap drums and neo-soul atmosphere of ‘Softly’, it highlights the surprising power of her airy voice, moving between conspiratorial whisper and romantic croon with ease.
This worn-in, come-hither R&B mode is often Clairo’s best. ‘Flaming Hot Cheetos’, a deep cut from 2017, makes even more sense in the context of how her sonic palette has expanded since, a half-rapped Rihanna/SZA/Drake flow that begs to be explored more in her attempts to get the crowd moving. She introduces ‘Terrapin’ by telling us the story of how she performed it with Freddie Gibbs in LA the night before, but appears mildly amused by the muted response: “You guys either don’t know this one, or you just love it and are really focused!” Crowd suitably chastised, the singalongs grow louder for ‘Add Up My Love’, and louder still when she informs the crowd that she’s been drinking whisky and green tea, and is well on her way to drunk. “That’s why I’m trying to rally you guys up! I’m so up right now!”
The low-key appeal of Clairo’s music doesn’t always match her tipsy encouragements for us to go “batshit”, but the pace of the third act hits a wonderfully solid groove. A one-off cover of one of her favourite songs — David Byrne’s ‘Everybody’s In Love With You’ — is sung sitting down on the ground, offering its wistful lyrics an added dose of intimacy. The sax outro on ‘Bags’ deserves specific mention for how it elevates one of the finest indie-pop songs of the last decade into something truly grandiose, whilst ‘Sexy To Someone’ is fast catching it up as her best, producing genuine joy out of a lyrical sentiment which, in the wrong hands, could delve quickly into self-pity. For an artist who has so expertly evolved into an understated interlocutor of indie, funk, pop and soul, Clairo’s live vibe is often a steady experience rather than one of distinct crescendos. But if you embrace the feeling of flow, all the elements come together to produce a gorgeous late summer evening, and an even better reminder to stock up on some good cocktail ingredients.
Clairo performing Everyone’s in Love with You by David Byrne #CharmTourStanford 🌹pic.twitter.com/koOGinjRUN
— Clairo’s HQ 🗝️ (@clairoshq) October 7, 2024
Clairo Played:
Nomad
Second Nature
Thank You
Softly
Flaming Hot Cheetos
How
Bambi
Terrapin
Add Up My Love
North
Echo
Glory of the Snow
Slow Dance
Harbor
Partridge
Everyone’s in Love With You
4EVER
Amoebe
Bags
Sexy To Someone
Juna
