The rising 25-year-old singer-songwriter Laufey charmed her fans in Washington, D.C. with two enchanting concerts on April 25 and 26 at The Anthem in D.C., as part of her Bewitched: The Goddess Tour.
Contrary to our expectations that there would be an overwhelming amount of teenagers, the line at the entrance of The Anthem was relatively short and filled with an even mix of middle-aged jazz enthusiasts and young women wearing pink bows in their hair.
As we walked into the venue, it became clear that this concert wouldn’t be one where crowds crushed against each other, screaming every lyric at the top of their lungs. The atmosphere was intimate and warm, much like her music.
Wasia Project, an English pop duo, was the opening act for the night. After the duo finished performing, Laufey began with an awe-inspiring entrance with the song “While You Were Sleeping.” The stage lit up and the crowd began cheering, “I love you Laufey!” to which she, of course, responded, “I love you too!” Laufey wholeheartedly explained how it felt surreal to hold a concert at The Anthem, as she spent much of her childhood in D.C. and used to walk by the Wharf, never dreaming that she would perform two sold-out nights in a row.
Laufey played either guitar, bass, cello, or piano throughout almost every song, sometimes with the support of the live band or quartet and other times alone. She played each instrument flawlessly, and her voice was no different from what it sounds like in the recordings. She danced along the stage on her more upbeat and dramatic songs, while her slower, more melancholic songs were performed while standing still or sitting at a grand piano, as a single spotlight would shine above her.
Although the crowd was generally responsive, we noticed that those around our area mostly sat silently through almost the entire concert, as some weren’t even filming the concert. Nonetheless, many fans near the stage expressed their inner fan-girls as they wished her a happy belated birthday, and their cheers echoed through the theater.
The crowd had never been as hysterical as when Laufey’s twin sister, Junia, appeared on stage toward the concert’s end to play a small part of Laufey’s most popular song, “From The Start,” on the violin. This was arguably the most exciting moment of the night, as Laufey ends the song by changing her lyrics from “I’ve loved you from the start” to “DC, I’ve loved you from the start,” leaving the crowd in awe. To conclude her concert, she played two unreleased songs from her new Deluxe Bewitched album, “Bored” and a cover of a jazz standard, “It Could Happen to You.”
The show was an electrifying experience that was worth the anticipation.
By Carolina Fournier Miranda and Sophia Li
