CLAIRO / ARLO PARKS 2.28.2022

Mar 7

Words and Photos By Adam W. Gerhold

I made my way down from my humble apartment in Manchester, NH to the House of Blues in Boston on Monday night. About a block away I could already see the tail end of a rapidly growing line of fans and quickly realized my usual parking spot was almost guaranteed to be gone. It was. So I took a few lefts and rights and found myself some free street parking around the corner. The first of a few big wins for the night. After picking up my ticket and pass I found myself inside as half of the fans who made it inside were eagerly rushing to the front of the stage or as close as they possibly could be, as the other half started to create a line for merch that started to resemble the line I saw waiting to get inside.

As I mentioned, there were a few wins on the night. The second win came in the form of Arlo Parks. Parks took the stage in the form of a whirlwind. The 21 year old stomped from one end of the stage to the next, playing to the crowd, throwing kicks and smiles that had the crowd, some of which were still piling in, going off. The energy was high, the vibes were right, and the march line was still long.

The House of Blues isn’t a massive venue but Clairo made it feel pretty intimate for night 2 of her stay in Boston. Her stage set up included some oversized looking reading lamps, some paper looking floor lights, a piano, and the band. Yes, this is the third win of the night. The 23 year old took up a seat at the piano to a finally shrinking merch line and a packed house. There were a constant flood of screams and applause from the audience that was ever-amplified by an occasional smirk from Clairo or a mention of Boston, the place she grew up.

The set contained an array of songs from her newest record, Sling, and some heavy hitters from her previous release, Immunity. The combination left no one feeling disappointed. The crowd received a few bonuses in the form of 2 brand new songs and a duet with Arlo Parks, of which Clairo said, “We’ve never done that before.”

It was beautiful. In fact, the whole night was. The energy from the crowd was reciprocated from the artists on stage. Everyone was enjoying themselves and getting lost in the moment. We were all pretty lucky to be there.

Clairo