Jazz may not be the most popular genre in 2025, but if there is one person who is going to change that, it is Icelandic singer Laufey.
Laufey concluded her North American leg of her sold-out tour for her latest album, “A Matter of Time,” in Boston Oct. 27.
Fans flooded TD Garden, adorned in pastel colored outfits and paper crowns, clock-themed skirts and piano key pants for the last competition of best-dressed guest, a bit where Laufey picked the most creative outfits from her crowd, until the European leg starts in February.
Opener Suki Waterhouse got fans excited for the main event by playing her top hits like “Good Looking Boy,” “To Love,” “My Fun” and “Moves.” The crowd lit the arena with their flashlights and applauded for Waterhouse and her band as if she were the headliner, cheering as she took her last bow for the “A Matter of Time” tour.
Laufey entered the stage with an ethereal grace, a rosy pink ballgown and crown as she opened with “Clockwork,” setting the tone for her time-themed show.
With an enchanting double staircase leading to a swing at the top, Laufey pranced around the stage with her four dancers and into the crowd as the platform extended to a clock in the middle of the pit.
With animations of waltzing dancers and carousel horses projecting behind her, she set the tone for her fairytale-like show from act to act.
The concert was broken into five parts: Acts I-IV and the finale. Act I consisted mainly of songs from the toured album but featured songs from her “Bewitched: The Goddess” album, a deluxe version of “Bewitched” released in April 2024. “Bewitched” earned her Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. It was her first win, with two nominations.
Laufey described Act II as her jazz club set, brought the big venue to a more intimate moment as she and a handful of her orchestra came to the clock stage to sing jazz covers or faster renditions of her songs like “Valentine” and “Fragile.”
Here, she also highlighted her ties to Boston as she teared up recalling her time at Berklee College of Music, where she graduated in 2021. She described the city as “the place she became a woman” and a nostalgic walk through memory lane.
Students from Berklee shrieked as she mentioned her undergraduate degree and performed a song she wrote for a class years ago that has followed her from down the green line to a full arena show. Fans sang along to “Let You Break My Heart Again” as she had a spotlighted moment with just a microphone and a piano at center stage.
She continued making her way through her album during the last three acts with the occasional song from her past discography.
With each show came a surprise song, which, notably in the past, has had an occasional guest star like Hozier and Lin-Manuel Miranda. For Boston, a song included a violin solo from Laufey’s twin sister, dressed in one of the singer’s earlier outfits.
After the best-dressed-guest awards and guest appearances, a surprise song is played at each show. The TD Garden’s audience heard an acoustic rendition of “Slow Down” from Laufey’s 2022 studio album, “Everything I Know About Love.”
Laufey’s classically trained background with a strong jazz influence makes not only her music style and voice stand out, but also her knowledge of music. A great example was her cello rendition of “Cuckoo Ballet (Interlude)” in Act III, but also her multi-guitar and piano performances with the band throughout the show.
To end the night, she sang “Letter to My 13 Year Old Self,” which she described as a “lullaby” to send her fans off with.
Waving goodbye to the American and Canadian portion of her tour, Laufey wished everyone a merry Christmas and played a song from her Christmas album “A Very Laufey Holiday” with red confetti floating in the air. This hinted at a later announcement of a Christmas single dropping Nov. 5.
