Even before Icelandic-Chinese jazz singer-songwriter Laufey took the stage for her second sold-out Chicago show of “The Bewitched Tour, ” fans had proved their loyalty. The line to enter Thalia Hall stretched over two blocks, despite the chilly Pilsen air on Sunday night.
While our expectations for Laufey were high, she blew them out of the water with her strong vocals, musical technique and mesmerizing stage presence.
But, even before the lights twinkled behind Laufey like a starry sky, singer-songwriter Adam Melchor opened with an all-acoustic set of originals.
Melchor’s belts — like his quips — were met with enthusiastic cheers from the audience. He took frequent breaks between candid, heartbreaking songs to share personal stories with the audience.
“I’ve covered all my bases here,” he deadpanned as he followed up the heartbreaking “Joyride” — one for the children of divorced parents, he joked — with cautiously optimistic “Real Estate.”
Melchor’s earnest stage presence earned him two new fans that night (us).
Finally, the lights dimmed, and a string quartet played a delicate melody which shifted into a pronounced and passionate sound. Then, stillness. The silence immediately elicited chants from the crowd. With the flash of a spotlight, Laufey began her set with a beautiful rendition of “Fragile,” followed by an hour and a half long performance that spanned her discography.
While many tracks came from the tour’s namesake album, “Bewitched,” longtime fans will appreciate that Laufey’s oldies like 2021’s “Like The Movies” and last year’s “Falling Behind,” are included in the setlist.
Her setlist carved a space for everyone in the audience, from the hopeless romantics to the brokenhearted. Our personal favorites were “Beautiful Stranger,” which saw Laufey dexterously switch between guitar and cello, and “Let You Break My Heart Again.”
While the latter was originally recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Laufey needed no full accompaniment Sunday as she delivered a gut-wrenching rendition of the ballad behind a grand piano.
With every song, Laufey’s musicianship bewitched us – easily switching from the finger-picked cello of “I Wish You Love” to the heartbreaking chords of “Promise.” The orchestral choices made by the artist, in addition to new vocal runs, brought a robust life and timbre to pieces that streaming versions just can’t.
Beyond musical talent, her command of the crowd shone with showstopper “Lovesick,” where the artist split what she called her “angel choir” into two melodic parts to help her sing the song’s melancholic outro.
When she bid the audience farewell after fan favorite “From The Start,” the crowd’s resounding cheers of “encore” brought the musician back onstage with two tracks –– including “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self,” a tear-inducing ode to her past self.
Laufey has publicly said — and shared in concert — that she’s always had the dream of “bringing the sounds of classical and jazz back to (her) generation.”
The dreamer certainly did that for Chicago on a windy Sunday night.
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Twitter: @beatricedvilla
Email: [email protected]
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