Audrey Hobert is an artist I've been meaning to watch live for a long time. Though she only has her debut album out, Who’s the Clown?, all of the songs are amazing and she’s carved out a unique identity and sound for herself. Like with every great pop star, certain things remind you of them, like an unspoken trademark. For Audrey Hobert, it’s colored tights, polka dots, stripes, and clowns galore! In the line to get into the venue, I was already greeted by the sight of everyone dressed in the most cutesy, whimsical outfits. Picture girls sporting bright tights, fun miniskirts, patterned tops and colorful scarves and hats. A particularly special mention has to go to the girl who dressed up entirely as a bowling pin in a nod to Audrey’s song, “Bowling Alley”. 

What I loved about this show was the the narrative that Hobert deliberately crafted with the order of her songs. Starting with her signature introduction of appearing on stage as the lights come on to reveal her wearing a trench coat, and oversized glasses, the silliness complete with a big nose and hilarious moustache. Her setlist, as always, remained true to the order of her album, Who’s the Clown?, except for reordering “Sue Me” to the end, before and after “Silver Jubilee”. Yes, she played it twice!

Before some songs even began, a booming voice echoed through the speakers into the awaiting crowd to narrate the story, along with immersive sound effects. The effect is incredibly entertaining and so special to her shows. Before “Drive” played, for instance, an all too relatable song about the desperation of needing an escape and the disappointment of a crush, the jarring slam of a door and the rumble of a car speeding away reverberated through the crowd with full force. The saxophone solo in “Thirst Trap” summoned a clown with an orange wig and a sax, who Audrey play fought with on stage until the song ended. This entire goofy yet enthralling segment was just another wonderful little antic that mirrored the rest of her whimsical performance. Given the whole album concept revolves around clowns, this recurring imagery became entirely endearing. 

A song which is now particularly special to me is “Sex and the city”. I cried while she was singing the lyric, “What it’s like to be admired, hot and desired”. I feel like this is a universal experience for every girl; wanting to feel wanted but not knowing what to do with that feeling when it comes. I teared up thinking back to every single time I felt that conflicted feeling, and I was so emotional that I let the tears run down both of my flushed cheeks right there in the middle of the chaos of the crowd. The song is more mellow than a lot of her others, which I think  also set the atmosphere for me to reflect on how much I love being entirely and irrevocably in the moment of live music. Everyone was just swaying to the rhythm together and it was such a wonderful feeling to be part of.   

I also adored how she played “Sue Me” again as the last song, which is her most popular, and the one to jump to and scream the lyrics for. There were no phones in sight for this last round of “Sue Me” and it was an exhilarating experience, jumping up and down, alongside all the other fans near me, and it made me tear up yet again. It might be due to the fact that it was a majority young female audience that made me feel the sheer power of girlhood, especially when I saw girls like me dancing, giggling and shouting the lyrics with their friends. It might also be, however, the simple yet compelling fact that live music in general makes me feel such a deep sense of collective effervescence, something so hard to replicate in other scenarios and so difficult to explain, yet undeniably poignant, emotional and heartfelt. In that entire 50 minute set, it felt like everyone was family, sisters in fact, and it was beautiful to witness everyone coming  alive with the music. I walked out of the venue and, despite the cool night air, could barely stop smiling from ear to ear, making my way home, content and heart warmed.