Laufey Bewitches Chicago At Sold Out Show
On Sunday, April 28, contemporary jazz artist Laufey captivated an attentive and devoted audience at the Chicago Theatre along her “Bewitched Tour.” The tour is supported by London-based duo Wasia Project.
Article and photos by Finley Harrison
A swarm of bow-clad fans filled the Chicago Theatre long before Laufey or Wasia Project took the stage. As groups of friends took photos in the aisles and anxious concertgoers waited in line to secure a piece of merchandise, the sounds of Frank Sinatra, beabadoobee, and Ella Fitzgerald rang through the venue.
Wasia Project were ushered on stage to Frank Ocean’s “Novacane,” and the audience erupted in cheers as they began their first song “Petals On The Moon.” The duo consists of siblings Olivia Hardy and William Gao (of Heartstopper fame). Opening for Laufey provided their first opportunity to tour in the United States, and they certainly showed out for the occasion. They followed the opening song with “how can i pretend?,” a song about hopeless romance and young love. Following a few more songs, the duo played “ur so pretty,” a song that has amassed over forty-eight million streams on Spotify – partially due to its addition to the Heartstopper season two soundtrack. Wasia Project closed their set with “impossible,” another fan favorite that was both preceded and succeeded by wild cheers.
After a brief intermission, Laufey entered an intricately-lit stage with a grand piano at the center. Accompanying Laufey was an eight-piece band consisting of a guitarist, keyboardist, drummer, multi-instrumentalist, and a string quartet. The first song on her setlist was “While You Were Sleeping,” a nod to the 1995 film of the same title. Just two days prior to the show, Laufey released an extended “Goddess Edition” to her newest album Bewitched. She performed three of the four additional songs throughout the night. After a handful of original songs, she performed a cover of Keely Smith’s “I Wish You Love,” a romantic ballad that launched Laufey into her current fame. Throughout the evening, Laufey continued to enchant the crowd with a collection of mesmerizing and beautiful melodies. Ahead of the encore she performed “From The Start,” the tenth track on Bewitched. Ahead of the third verse, Laufey was joined on stage by her identical twin sister Junia. Junia accompanied Laufey with a delightful violin solo to ring in the rest of the song. A brief encore was succeeded by another fan favorite song, “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self,” a heartfelt love letter to a younger version of herself. Laufey ended the show with another cover, this time of Jimmy Van Heusen’s “It Could Happen To You” – another “Goddess Edition” track.
The energy was electric as the audience filed out of the theater. After a perfect Sunday evening, fans returned home with memories that would not soon be forgotten.
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