LIVE REVIEW: LAUFEY AT CHORUS LIFE ARENA, BERGAMO 11/03/26
Photo: Gemma Warren
Icelandic-Chinese composer, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Laufey has been taking the music industry by storm in recent years.
Her unique style, a product of her classic training mixed with her love of contemporary pop music, often described as a blend of jazz, pop, and bossanova, has not only allowed her to conquer audiences from widely different generations and musical taste, but also won her the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her sophomore record BEWITCHED in 2024. At only 24 years old, this made her the youngest person to ever receive this award, which she just doubled this year, as only last month she won in the very same category for her third studio album, A MATTER OF TIME.
An inspiration for the younger generations, Laufey has been a strong advocate for younger musicians to pursue classical training, choosing to donate 1$ for every ticket sold on her current world tour to the Laufey Foundation, supporting youth orchestral programs. A cause close to her heart, as the singer herself studied cello for years, performing with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra at only 15 before continuing her studies at Berklee College of Music, which she was still attending when she released her first single and EP.
Shining a light on the beauty of traditional performances, as well as the delicate bond between artist and listener that can only be recreated in acoustic style-settings, are likely some of the reasons why she chose to renounce her more intricate set pieces, costumes and orchestra of musicians in favour of a stripped down version, a variant she called ‘An Evening With Laufey’, which she is currently touring with in Europe and Asia.
As she walked on stage to roaring applause in Bergamo, Italy, with only her guitar and a string quartet to accompany her, she promised her already captivated audience the “coziest, most ethereal night ever”.
The setlist immediately appeared to have been changed as well to accommodate this different approach, as she decided to fittingly open with ‘Fragile’, the very first track to her debut album, EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE, a soft and lovely introduction to the night.
Finishing the song, Laufey greeted the crowd warmly, her friendly and talkative demeanour contributing to making the show feel intimate and grounded during the breaks between songs, before transporting us back into her own timeless musical bubble, where the raw emotion of the lyrics met the dreamlike execution of the music from Laufey herself and the accompanying strings seamlessly.
She followed with ‘Lover Girl’, one of her more upbeat singles, from her recent album A MATTER OF TIME, a fan favourite which warmed the audience instantly as the clapping sections were so loud in the sold out arena, it was almost difficult to hear the instruments during them. The singer chose to distribute the setlist more evenly for these special nights, differentiating from the US leg of the tour which concentrated more on her current album, whilst last night’s setlist spanned her discography more evenly. As she attempted to introduce ‘Second Best’, a track off her sophomore album that is not often performed, the fans, unaware of the surprise, screamed and sang their love for her as she regrettably informed everyone she was not about to play a happy song, but was glad of the sentiment.
She did however move onto more romantic territory as she sat at her piano to play ‘Valentine’, one of her older, more jazz leaning tunes. The piano section was followed by one of the singer’s gig traditions, “since we are in the country of fashion”, she mused, as she crowned the best dressed of the night: a young girl named Gaia, turning 18 on the day, who had stitched the lyrics to ‘Night Light’ to her dress. “A song about getting older and leaving home and your parents and all the emotions that stirs up”, the visibly nervous girl explained, as she also shared that she is the first flute in her school orchestra, which Laufey commended after her trusty companion Mei Mei the Bunny crowned the winner.
The Mei Mei lore goes deep, dear reader, but a quick explanation for the non-super fan: Mei Mei means “little sister” in Chinese, and it is an alias Laufey has used in the past to realise lofi and instrumental music but it has with time become a mascot for Laufey’s brand, as well as the protagonist to the singer’s first book, a children’s tale about following your dreams, coming out this April.
Laufey cheekily announced she was about to play “her meansong” about annoying men, before correcting herself, “well - one of them”, as she went on to play ‘Mr Eclectic’. She only added “here’s the actually mean one”, with a knowing smile as ‘Tough Luck’ started playing, one of her angrier songs, with a stronger guitar section and a Taylor Swift worthy, very screamable, satisfyingly passionate bridge. She gave a masterful vocal performance, holding the note on the last chorus for so long the crowd couldn’t help but shout and applaud before it even ended.
Introducing ‘Promise’, Laufey spoke about the difficulty of being in a relationship with someone who is not good for you because, in her words, “it’s bad but it’s good because it’s bad, because it’s good.” She also mentioned how honoured she felt that US figure skater Alysa Liu had chosen this song to perform to during the 2026 Olympics in the nearby city of Milan just last month. The athlete has shared that she chose this song because they lyrics spoke to her both in her personal life and in her skating journey; she likes the icelandic singer so much, she did a routine to another one of her tracks, Let You Break My Heart Again, as well.
As the end of the show approached, Laufey, seeming truly content and in her element, shared how glad she was performing a more intimate show and doing so in Italy. She confessed to being incapable of resisting a plate of pasta before coming on stage, even though her vocal couch would have recommended against it - rightfully so, as she apparently had been trying to avoid “adding unwanted percussions” to songs (most poetic way to describe burping we have ever heard), though she did mention how eager she was to return to the other half of that plate waiting for her at the end of the show.
On a more serious note, the singer was visibly emotional as she introduced her last song, sharing how thankful and incredulous she was performing for a sold out show in Europe, as she “grew up in Iceland and never thought things like this happened to people like me”. She urged everyone to follow their dreams, no matter how crazy or unachievable they may seem, as “there’s a lot of magic in being a little delusional and believing in yourself.”
After she left the stage, she came up to sing a final lullaby to the audience, her ‘Letter to my 13 year old self’, and finally took a bow with tears in her eyes, promising to come back soon.