On Thursday, Sep. 19, Claire Cottrill, more popularly recognized by her stage name “Clairo,” charmed New York City’s Webster Hall with a performance that transformed the city’s nature from busy to one graced with a more comfortable intimacy and closeness. With merch lines wrapping around the venue and HeadCount stalls encouraging concert attendees to register to vote for the upcoming election, the venue was filled with the smiling faces of fans eagerly waiting for the bedroom pop singer to take the stage.
As concertgoers excitedly entered the venue’s ballroom, opener Frankie Cosmos took the stage for a much anticipated and electrifying performance. The New York-based band performed hit songs like “Fool” and “Sappho” before winding down and letting the production team prepare for Clairo’s set. Soon, the stage was filled with instruments, furniture and empty wine glasses, the room illuminating with a dim orange-ish flare. Then, Cottrill’s band took the stage. After sharing warm glances and cold glasses of wine with one another, the show began, and the crowd cheered as the room glimmered with enchanting hues of purple, orange and yellow, and the melodic opening notes of “Nomad” filled the room.
With the stage transformed into a living room and the aura of the venue almost emanating that of a home, Clairo and her band began to sing more songs from her setlist: “Second Nature,” “Thank you,” “Softly” and a hit song from her debut EP Diary 001, “Flaming Hot Cheetos.” With each new song, the crowd grew louder. The band blended together seamlessly, following each other’s every move and watching as the singer melds with the audience. She cheered for them, saying she could feel them “bubbling up” with excitement or that “they can’t possibly be louder than her previous shows” in an attempt to get them riled up. Just before playing her hit song “Bags” off her first album “Immunity,” she exclaimed that she had a treat for the audience as a reward for being so fun. The singer then asked the crowd to “boo” her and her band if they thought they were “sexy.” The room then erupted with long “boos” and with a nod of approval from Clairo. “Sexy to Someone” followed, and “Juna” came last, officially closing the tenth and final night of Clairos’s Los Angeles and New York residencies.
Fans took to X (formerly Twitter), deeply saddened by the setlist’s lack of “Harbor” from her sophomore album “Sling,” a gut-wrenching and melancholic song describing a one-sided relationship from beginning to end and the longing for requited love. The singer responded to these overwhelming reactions with a statement caught on a fan’s video—Clairo is seen to be saying that she might add the song to the Charm Tour setlist after her residencies end.
This week is the official start to the Charm Tour as the singer-songwriter is set to begin her next set of shows this upcoming Friday, Sep. 27, in Dallas, Texas, accompanied by Alice Phoebe Lou.
