“Crafting An Idiosyncratic Blend Of Pop”
Tove Lo played for a sold-out crowd at Manchester Academy, on November 2, 2020 — and All Music Magazine’s Billy Seagrave was there to capture some of the intense booty-shaking action. The Swedish singer/songwriter is known for her raw energy, honest lyrics, and “grunge-influenced” modern pop music
Tonight’s support slot is from L.A.-based singer and songwriter who combines emotional and intellectual topics in often intense indie rock, The first thing you’ll notice about Miya Folick is that voice. She’s just one of these people: There’s a natural gift there, and she has cultivated it, and she knows how to deploy it. Her vocals have an overwhelming power when she truly lets loose, the sound of a storm brewing within then erupting from a human body. Hitting the Academy stage at 8:00pm, Folick warmed the crowd many of whom had been queuing for hours in Manchester’s miserable weather. The crowd instantly took to the singer, cheering as she moved through a mixture of upbeat tracks and vocally impressive tracks. Boasting a strong mix of old and new songs. She has channeled righteous anger, she has channeled hurt, she has channeled wistfulness; We get new, exciting songwriters all the time. But performers like Folick are more uncommon. Sometimes you hear someone, and you immediately know they are elemental. Leaving the stage after a thunderous 40-minute set, the crowd where duly warmed up and ready for the main event.
As the intro blasts out of the stage and the band assemble on the raised platform, the lights and lasers coming from the back of the stage, mixed with the billowing smoke, makes the set seem more like a scene from some apocalyptic sci-fi movie. Tove Lo takes to the stage to a cacophony of appreciation from the eager crowd, dressed in a gold-striped costume with protruding false nipples, kicking off with, “Pineapple Slice”, Tove stayed true to herself, showing off her twerking abilities and interacting with fans who had spent hours queuing for a front barrier space.
Crafting an idiosyncratic blend of pop influenced as much by ’80s pop as by contemporary EDM and coupled with raw, brutally honest lyrics, “Are U Gonna Tell Her”, sees the ecstatic crowd in one voice, as Tove Lo energetically covers the stage dancing and twerking her way skilfully through the set. The pounding synth of “Really Don’t Like You”, gives way as “Disco T*ts”, Cleary a crowd favourite is unleashed. Tove Lo embodies every side of her own femininity in her music. She can be powerful in one breath and lusty in the next. Her cleverness will turn into introspection just before she makes herself heard again. She fights hard and loves even harder.
Tove Lo is showcasing her latest album, “Dirt Femme”, which contains stories that aren’t so much intricate as bracingly honest. On the fantastic “Suburbia”, she grapples with her ambivalence about having children: “I Can’t Be No Stepford Wife,” she sings on the chorus. “Grapefruit” hits deep into Lo’s body image issues. “How Long” and, “True Disaster”, followed. “Hey You Got Drugs”? Brought the set to an end as the singer and band left the stage – leaving fans calling for more.
The band returned for the inimitable encore and, “I’m To blame”, and the rather powerful, “Habits” (stay High), see the crowd belting out the chorus with such power and vigour. As the strobe lighting overpowers the stage, like a symphony, “No one Dies From Love”, sends the crowd into the stratosphere, the evening has been a triumph, one that has united performer and fans together. she excels at not losing what has made her such a standout in a saturated genre over the years. Now, as an independent artist standing on her own, Lo is primed to continue setting the bar higher and higher for how to balance deep emotions with incredible pop craft.
SET LIST
1/ Intro
2/ Pineapple Slice
3/ Attention *hore
4/ Cool Girl
5/ Are U gonna tell her?
6/ 2 Die 4
7/ Talking Body
8/ Really Don’t Like U
9/ Disco tits
10/ Call On Me
11/ Moments
12/ True Romance
13/ Grapefruit
14/ Glad He’s Gone
15/ How Long
16/ True Disaster
17/ Hey you got drugs.
ENCORE
18/ I’m to Blame
19/ Habits (Stay High)
20/ No One Dies from Love
FOLLOW TOVE LO
FOLLOW MIYA FOLICK
