Last Thursday, Nov. 7, indie icon Clairo brought good vibes to the Fox Theatre, touring her recently Grammy-nominated album “Charm.” Although getting off to a bit of a slow start, Clairo and opener Alice Phoebe Lou more than charmed the audience, bringing earnest vocals and a sense of intimacy to one of the larger concert venues in the city.
Alice Matthews, known professionally as Alice Phoebe Lou, and her band stayed in a small portion of the stage in front of a curtain, but her presence reverberated through the theater the moment she began singing “Angel,” off her 2023 album “Shelter.” She brought a pleasant mix of synth pop and indie rock; the strums of her acoustic guitar were beautifully accompanied by the keyboard and percussion of her band.
Alice’s yearning and honest voice is a standout. She sings so smoothly and compellingly that it leaves the listener with a pulling feeling in their chest. Her performance of “Lover / / Over the Moon” with its minimal guitar and keys really highlighted her smooth, melodic style. Midway through the set, she remarked that she was feeling emotional reaching the end of her tour with Clairo and how grateful she was to be performing under the crystalline sky of stars in the Fox Theatre. Her positivity and wholesomeness shone through during her set and was undoubtedly infectious.
The excitement was bubbling by the end of her set, and Alice leveraged it by ramping up the tempo with two high-energy songs. She concluded with hit song “Witches” and a new single titled “Better,” which she released later that night. By the end, everyone was on their feet. Alice Phoebe Lou’s live performance felt like an entire night in an opening set and was definitely worth attending.
During the break, hundreds of Clairo fans queued up to buy merchandise that perfectly represented Clairo’s thrifted, artsy vibe. A line of teens and young adults decked out in vintage dresses and ribbon bows complimented by leather jackets and boots wrapped through the lobby and extended down to the stage.
From the second the curtain dropped, every aspect of Clairo’s show complimented her and the image she has developed from “Charm.” The band was set up around a ‘70s era conversation pit with Clairo’s microphone front-and-center, adjacent to an antique mossy-green velvet chair. The background shimmered with cedar-colored hanging beads reminiscent of vintage wood-paneled walls. Clairo’s entrance was met with a deafening applause, but the audience shortly quieted down in anticipation when instead of singing, she and her band made use of the conversation pit to share a pre-show drink of what looked like whiskey. The tone was promptly set for the night — relaxed, intimate, communal — everyone was together to have a good time.
Clairo opened with “Nomad,” one of the singles off of “Charm” where she delicately sings through melodic bends and swirls of keeping her emotions reserved after a split. Her stage presence reflected these themes: a moonlike spotlight descended upon her mid-song, reflecting on her white silk dress and surrounding her with an angelic aura. She remained reserved, though, and she often turned her back on the audience.
Though her vocals were impeccable, it seemed that Clairo was not expressing the joy that she usually feels when performing. She stepped offstage a few times during the first few songs, and she started crying while singing “Softly.” Clairo, born Claire Cottrill here in Atlanta, is human just like us, and like many, the outcome of the presidential election just two days prior left her with mixed emotions.
She paused the set to address the crowd, visibly upset. “I’m full of so much sadness and rage today,” she said. “It’s just not up for debate. … You’re a f***ing weirdo if you want to make a decision about my body. … It’s really heavy on my heart today, but we have a show to do.”
This statement was immediately received with enthusiastic cheers of support and a standing ovation from the audience that lasted over a minute. Avid concertgoers in the city know what Atlanta concert crowds are like — extremely rowdy but respectful and supportive. The Clairo show was the epitome of that. The love emanating from the audience was palpable, and it definitely was an inflection point in the show.
Nobody sat down afterward, and the show did indeed go on with growing audience enthusiasm that reflected back upon Clairo. She started to relax, sometimes dancing and taking sips from her drink. The audience belted every word to her jazzy rendition of 2017 indie classic “Flaming Hot Cheetos.” Claps and “woos” came when she hit the high notes in the bridge of “Terrapin.”
Through most of the concert, Clairo maintained the lush, jazzy and reserved vibe that she established at the start. She did not move much from her microphone stand in the middle of the stage, and when she did, it was to address her band members in the conversation pit. It left the audience captivated less by her singular performance and more by that of the entire band. Hailey Niswanger (on “everything else” according to Clairo) was a definite standout. She was constantly moving around the pit, shifting effortlessly from playful backup vocals to shredding on the keys and even a killer saxophone solo.
The mood definitely picked up when Clairo played the teenage staples that held a lot of emotional weight for the audience. She picked up the guitar to play the opening chords to “North,” in a performance reminiscent of the studio version from her first album “Immunity,” and the energy in the room started to grow. It rose exponentially when Clairo started to perform her last and most popular songs of the night, with the drums starting to beat the rhythm of “4EVER.”
The tempo hastened even more when the band began the arrangement for “Amoeba,” and Clairo told everyone to dance and sing along to the song, lamenting that she could not be out there dancing with us. Next came “Bags” and “Sexy to Someone,” and the Fox began to reverberate with a crescendo of cheers and belts to the lyrics of these old and new classics. Clairo felt the energy, dancing with the crowd and throwing up heart signs, smiling and shouting “love you Atlanta!” on multiple occasions.
Just when the energy reached the conceivable limit for an indie-rock concert, the newly iconic synth and keys of “Juna” started playing, and cheers almost grew deafening. It will be hard to beat the feeling of euphoria that came from belting the lyrics of that song along with every single attendee at Clairo’s packed out show. Again, in classic Atlanta fashion, a moshpit erupted in the orchestra pit, which might be a first for the Fox. There was no encore, but it did not seem to matter to fans because they had just experienced a special moment that only comes once in a lifetime.
At only 26, Clairo already has three studio albums and a Grammy nomination under her belt for a reason. For over ten years now, her beautifully tender and honest songs on love, loss and everything in between have cemented her as an indie icon, and her live show was truly an emotional experience in which her personality shone through. The “Charm” tour is a testament to her growth as an artist, and although it presented some obstacles, Atlanta’s Nov. 7 show was evidence that she will deliver an incredible performance regardless of the size of her audience.