By Marian Castro
Graphic By Maya Uribe
On Sep. 6 outside of the Fonda Theater, lines of youthful music-lovers equipped with tote bags, flowy skirts and Doc Martens on every corner were camping out in the late summer heatwave in Los Angeles. Clairo’s name was lighting up the sign of the Fonda Theatre, signifying to passersby the very first night of her Charm tour and that the Charm Residency in LA had finally kicked off.
At her shows, the singer-songwriter had absolutely adhered to the theme of her new record, “Charm” which revolves around 1970s soft-pop and jazz ballad elements as well as songwriting reminiscent of Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell and Carole King. She performs her set with a full band, equipped with several performers and various instruments. Claire’s signature seems to be her wooden table and piano, which she uses during more intimate songs of her set.
After the energetic and rather ironically contrasting set of LA hip-hop duo, “Paris Texas” the lights began to dim once again and Clairo’s band began to walk onto stage to the sound of “After Laughter (Comes Tears)” by Wendy Rene, a soul tune from 1964 which adheres to Clairo’s theme in this new era of “Charm.” Clairo’s style has evolved from being a bedroom pop girlie to our generation’s Carole King, equipped with an entire ensemble playing with her, all set with keys, percussion and more.
Clairo trails in last after her band is all up on the stage, and she arrives greeted with rapturous cheers donning headphones, a lavender skirt, white button up blouse and a red flowy brooch for the first night. Clairo and her band begin to sit down and pour glasses of wine on the stage set and have conversations with each other as the ballad continues echoing on, which was a little act that I really enjoyed.
Clairo started her set with “Nomad” and trailed down each song of the “Charm” album along with her band. But what I personally loved about this show is that she played a lot of her older hits which was not something that I had thought she would head towards. Clairo played a very jazzy and sensual bossa-nova like rendition of her 2018 song “4EVER” which I absolutely loved. She also played some of her hits from her first record, “Immunity” which everyone also loved as well as “deep cuts” from her first EP, “diary 001.”
All in all it was an amazing show and Clairo currently is on her North American tour with Alice Phoebe Lou for the rest of this year and for her United Kingdom tour later on. “Charm” is out on all available streaming services.
