Clairo is my new favorite artist. Her soft pop sound goes really well with any sort of playlist, and her voice is soft enough to put you to sleep or in a trance depending on why you’re listening. Last night I had the pleasure of attending CLAIRO’s show at the House of Blues in Houston. Honestly, before then I had only heard of CLAIRO in passing and maybe on a couple of playlists but now I can wholeheartedly say that she has a new number 1 fan. Walking into the venue, the excitement coming from the crowd was immediately apparent and I knew that I was in for a good show. Her opening acts of Hello Yello and Beabadoobee worked very well with the vibe of the show. Hello Yello was the opening act and their performance of Feel That Again is what really got the crowd going. The boys played extremely well together and put on a fantastic show with the space and time that they had. Furthermore, their interaction with the crowd after their set was admirable and really made the venue feel much homier than any other concert I’ve been to. The smaller stage and closeness of the crowd added to the heightened atmosphere of the show and Hello Yello was able to mesh their rap/reggae/rock sound with then enclosed space. Up next was Beabadoobee. The chemistry on stage during the set was insane and there were definitely more than a few that came to see her. The crowd really lightened up during She Plays Bass and If You Want To, and I was actually able to get the colored vinyl record set in the back so that made their part of the show really cool! Although I really enjoyed the opening acts, as soon as CLAIRO came on stage, it was insane. As soon as she hit the stage, I knew she would be a great live artist. The way she interacted with the crowd and made sure to look directly at people for pictures proved her to be an artist that really was there for the fans. Her set was beautiful and during the breaks between songs, she would thank her opening acts or the people that were there helping her. However, the music is what really brought me in. Her opener of Alewife was perfectly mellow and really set the stage for the rest of the show. The transitions between songs were also beautiful and smooth. At one point during the show, she accidentally spilled her beer on the stage and was able to laugh it off and move on. During an instrumental break, she had everyone thank the guy that was there to clean it up. However, my favorite song has got to be her performance of I Wouldn’t Ask You. During the song, she had everyone turn their phones off and just listen, sing along, and really be in the moment. Because of this and many, many other amazing things that happened during the show I can wholeheartedly say that her live performances far outrank recordings. Her energy on stage and her interactions with the crowd was amazing. Although the crowd went wild during her performance of Sofia, every single other song deserved to be there. Every member of the band was amazing and the playing was so smooth and soft that I felt right at home the entire time. Although I wasn’t able to get any pictures (my phone died and I left my camera at my dorm) this concert has definitely landed a permanent Top 3 spot. I know that the next time CLAIRO comes around, I’ll be sure to get a ticket.

Written by: Madison Reddock