Photos and Review by ZJC Media
LANY: A BEAUTIFUL BLUR TOUR - Toronto, ON Concert - April 5, 2024 - Review
LANY had a very interesting way of releasing their album "A Beautiful Blur." Initially, the album was named "I Really Really Hope So," and even though the album kept its original release date of September 29, 2023, there were a few changes that later made some sense. First of all, the album title changed back to its original name, "A Beautiful Blur," according to LANY's lead singer, Paul Klein. The name matches all the original promo for the album with blurry images of the duo and other blurry images posted on the band's social media accounts months before the album's release. The next thing that changed was the album art from a picture of the duo to a black background and a blue circular shape covering a little over half of the cover. The change was announced to the public 11 days before the album release, yet the band made it work and announced the North American Leg of the "A Beautiful Blur: The World Tour" a week after the album was released. Within a week, multiple dates on the initial tour sold out, including the April 5, 2024, Toronto, ON date at History, allowing the band to add a second date in Toronto as well as other areas all around North America.
LANY had two openers for both their nights in Toronto. They were Junior Varsity and Connor Burns. Both artists came out in an almost punk rock-esque fashion and got the crowd pumped up for the main act. LANY came out with the "Mama's Boy" album opener "You!" allowing the show to build into an energetic start, going into a single from the previous album, "Ex I Never Had." After establishing a rhythm with the first three songs of the show, LANY started playing songs from "A Beautiful Blur," and the first one they played was "It Even Rains in LA." The song has an instrumental buildup that translates so well live, which was a trend I started noticing with the new songs. The translations the band made to the song's live versions are probably better than the studio versions, which makes me wonder if this was an album intended to be played and seen live.
LANY created medleys with their songs, resulting in an interesting experience. The first one was when they started playing their song "Somewhere" from the album "GG BB XX," and during the bridge, they added the bridge from "Sugar and Cinnamon." During this particular song, the entire crowd was swaying together, including two sound engineers in the sound booth. I've seen sound engineers be on their phones during shows or bopping their heads, but I have never seen two sound engineers hold each other with their phone lights up, swaying to the music. It was such a heartwarming sight to see. The next medley was during the classic "Super Far," where they put LANY's verse from Lauv's song "Mean It" into the bridge of the song. When listening to those two songs back to back, I hear how those songs can be mashed together perfectly, which is what LANY did. LANY paid a small homage to Toronto's Drake by singing the chorus of his song "Hold On, We're Going Home" in between songs. The last time this happened was when LANY did a stripped-down piano intro to their song "Alonica" by singing their verse from their duet with Kelsie Ballerini, "I Quit Drinking."
The rest of the show continued in a high-energy fashion, kicking it back up with the classic fan favorite "Pink Skies" and then the song "Dancing in the Kitchen," where they brought down a disco ball and even brought a fan on stage to dance with Paul. The show started winding down with the last two songs from their second studio album, "Malibu Nights," to close out the show before the inevitable encore. Although both songs had a more laid-back vibe, the crowd enthusiastically sang along to LANY's lyrics. The band exited the stage after a show-stopping instrumental buildup in the song "Malibu Nights," and as the band walked off stage, a tour-inspired video started playing. After the video, the band returned on stage with their first single from their self-titled album, "ILYSB." After the song ended, the band immediately went into the rock album opener "XXL" from "A Beautiful Blur," which had the entire crowd, including myself, off their feet jumping with the band. Paul jumped into the crowd and sang there for almost the whole song. After ending the show with the most energetic song in the band's catalog, all that was left on stage was the Looney Toons phrase, "That's All Folks!"
This show was a terrific opportunity for me because I have been listening to LANY since I was in high school. Their music was a part of some key moments of my life, including their song "Current Location" being an anthem for my long-distance girlfriend, now wife, and I's relationship while we were apart, as well as their self-titled album being what I listened to the majority of the month we got married. Seeing a few of those songs translated live brought back some memories for me that I cherish, and I even made some new ones that night in Toronto. I find myself craving to see LANY again as soon as possible due to this show being so much fun. The fans at the show were also really polite, as multiple fans asked if I would be able to see if they stood in front of me. The environment around me felt safe as I heard multiple crew members checking up on each other to hear how their days were. Overall, the show was a very good time, and everyone around me knew every word to every song. When the band puts on a great show, and the crowd gives them a great response, it makes for an extraordinary night. If you are reading this as a LANY fan, this is a tour that you don't want to miss.
Comments