Alice Phoebe Lou and Clairo each had a couple of firsts during their time in Arizona and their concert at the Mesa Amphitheatre on Oct. 3, both of which didn’t include music.
Phoebe Lou said she had enjoyed her first snow cone in Arizona, to which the crowd of primarily young people clad in dark-colored summer wear roared their approval.
The crowd enjoyed her opening set, which included a performance of her most-streamed song on Spotify, “Witches.”
“When we found out she was the opener, that made us more hyped,” said Maya Coronado Henson, 18, from the Phoenix area.
“She’s only in Asia and other countries, but she’s rarely here,” said Landon Loya, an 18-year-old fan also from the Phoenix area. “The overall sound, and especially their (Phoebe Lou and Clairo’s) lyrics, and the flow of everything, it’s really yummy for my ears.”
Clairo, meanwhile, had a non-snow cone milestone after spotting a sign in the crowd with a request: if Clairo performed her song “Sinking,” the audience member would do a backflip.
“We’re going to do “Sinking” instead ‘cause I really want to see this guy do a backflip,” Clairo said. After the song, the audience member clambered on stage with help from security to do the flip promised to Clairo.
There was just enough space in the semi-circle arranged set, with Clairo in the middle and her five band members arranged in an arc behind her. He did the backflip with a slight stumble, getting cheers from the crowd.
All night, Clairo walked around the middle of the stage in her lavender dress and black headphones, playing songs from her new 2024 album “Charm” and numerous other hits from previous years, including “Bags,” “4EVER,” “Flaming Hot Cheetos,” and “Bambi.” Some of those songs were on her 2021 album, “Sling.”
“Sling was her best f------ album that I’ve ever heard in my life because it made me feel like I was up in the f------ trees, in the woods, in a cabin, playing the flute. I’ve seen deer run by, like that is my favorite f------ album of all time,” said Melanie Edwards, 21, from Phoenix.
The background of the set, a sweeping array of shimmering gold curtains, occasionally changed with shifts in lighting that made Phoebe Lou and Clairo look like they were performing in front of a river transitioning through different stages of sunlight.
At one point, during a performance of her song “Harbor,” the crowd raised their phone lights in the air and swung them back and forth. A crew member stuck their phone out of the stage curtains to record the moment.
Clairo finished off her set with performances of “Sexy to Someone” and “Juna,” two songs on her album “Charm.”
“I really like ‘Charm,’ because ‘Charm’ is just about love, like the stages of love, like being in love, like trying to find love,” said Victor Adeyemo, 22, from Phoenix.
Fans can catch Clairo and Phoebe Lou on their tour in different North American cities until Nov. 8.