Ari Leff, better known as his stage name LAUV, kicked off his Asia & London Tour in Mumbai, India on May 13th. LAUV brought along Bülow as a supporting act and this will be his first tour of the year, with another tour coming Fall in Europe and North America.
The VIP package for LAUV included a Q&A where he played a few unreleased tracks, demos of new songs and so on and a Meet & Greet photo op. He played an unreleased song called ‘F*ck I’m Lonely’ and ‘Canada’ that, in his words, is not quite finished with production. He also revealed that critically acclaimed musician Teddy Geiger will be producing music on his forthcoming album.
This will be German-born Megan Bülow’s first time supporting a major recording artist on tour. Playing a 30-minute set opening with ‘Wake Up‘, it wasn’t surprising that the crowd was not familiar with most of her songs but Bülow put on a performance and got the audience hooked.
Bülow’s performance included recent hits ‘Sweet Little Lies‘ and ‘Punks in Love‘, along with a mashup of ‘Honor Roll’ with ‘Lucid Dreams’ by Juicewrld.
Leff opened with his latest hit ‘Drugs & The Internet’ immediately having a seat right before the crowd and setting an intimate vibe. His setlist comprised 20 songs including popular tracks ‘Paris in the Rain’, ‘Reforget’, ‘Paranoid’, and an unreleased song, ‘This ones about the game Sims,’ he said onstage. The set design was intimate, putting his drummer Rob Ernst and keyboard artist Jedidiah Lachmann into white alcoves, something straight out of a The 1975 music video, with stunning LED lights and smoke fills.
He performed ‘The Story Never Ends’ on a different stage, at the very back of the venue giving the last of the crowd a chance to see him better.
He came back for an encore with ‘Never Not’ and ‘I Like Me Better’ on the main stage. We assure you that there was not one dry face by the end of ‘Never Not’ but the mood picked right back up with beautiful rainbow lights during ‘I Like Me Better’. Leff made a show of laying down on the stage, making sure the crowd knew he wanted them to lay there with him.
Several times during the show Ari was caught off guard, getting emotional at the fact that the audience welcomed him with open arms, on the other side of the world, literally, and knew every song word for word. Whether it be driving him to tears during ‘Come Back Home‘, screaming ‘Paranoid!‘ in perfect sync with the silence and sound of the original track, taking over for him for the intro to ‘Superhero‘ or collecting letters and blue tipped roses from fans in the audience, LAUV said they could not have picked a better place to open the show with.
Being fans ourselves and experiencing this concert front row, it’s a given that Leff knows how to put on a show, and a good one at that, never mind him facing technical difficulties with his in-ears or mic. The connection with the singer could be felt by anyone in the room, be it front row or the last.