Photo + Words: Olivia Macrae

LA alternative dream-pop band LANY brought their Soft World Tour to Glasgow’s O2 Academy on 2nd June. 

The Tuesday night consisted of two great support acts starting with London-born artist Maisy Kay and Los Angeles band Weathers. Dotted around the venue were promo prints on the ground, nearby bus stops and walls with “LANY is Radio 1’s Least Favourite Band” and “LANY is Your Girlfriend’s Favourite Band” so you couldn’t miss them in the area. 

Singer-songwriter Maisy Kay kicked off the night at 7.30 with a stunning set of original tracks and absolutely nailed a cover of Adele’s Rolling In The Deep. The track was perfectly suited for her vocals and showcased her ability for range and versatility in the set. Maisy Kay looks up to Freddie Mercury as an inspiration to her sound, and I felt that she really channeled him not only in her music but in her style too. 

Maisy Kay beautifully combines dark pop with her love for fantasy and mythique on stage, and dressed in a stunning black glittery outfit and butterfly attached to her microphone. Talking about one of her tracks, she stated “some men are more trouble than they’re worth,” and dedicated it to all the girls, theys, and gays in the crowd. I’d recommend giving her new single Bitter a listen, I really enjoyed her set and would love to catch her live again soon. 

LA pop-rock band Weathers followed on at 8pm with great stage presence and crowd interaction. Like with Maisy Kay, Weathers also did a cover in their set. This time they gave the crowd a more rock-y version of Lady Gaga’s Pokerface, and got the crowd singing along to the chorus. Weathers had a great stage presence and gave me the alternative-rock vibes of Panic! At The Disco fused with the angsty, high energy driven vibes of Yungblud. 

Weathers’ Lead frontman Cameron Boyers bounced around the stage, and the band gave incredible instrumentation with gritty guitars and fun, catchy hooks. Boyers at one point asked the crowd if anyone knew who they were, to which only a couple of people cheered back. Admittedly, I also hadn’t heard of Weathers before, but once their set ended I remember thinking that LANY had a lot to look up to! I loved ‘C’est La Vie’ and their latest single ‘Your Girlfriend’ too. An incredible choice of support act and I hope they return to Glasgow soon. 

Our headliner of the night LANY started at 9pm with album title track ‘Soft’. The lights went down, and all you could see for this opening track was dark lighting with a white spotlight over frontman Paul Klein as he sang. It felt like the crowd was the observer looking in on a personal moment, as Klein sang lyrics introducing their new album: “You’re so soft / nothing about you ever hurts me / I’m a lover at your mercy”.

I found that during the set it was sometimes easy to feel disconnected from the band, kind of like the crowd was spectating rather than participating. However, LANY were quick to pull you out of that mindset. At one point Klein encouraged the crowd to say hi and make friends with the people around you, which was nice to engage with other crowdmembers and something I’ve not experienced many other artists do mid-set. 

Songs from ‘Soft’ made up most of the setlist, and if you listen to the album front to back it feels a little formulaic in sound, but maybe the album’s intention is in the name, to feel soft rather than hard-hitting to listen to. Hearing the album live also had this feel to it, but the live band and stage production mixed in with other songs from older albums gave the set a nice well-rounded finish. 

The stage setup had a unique block-like screen design to it, and it was cool to see the videography panning over to the crowd every so often. LANY are set to continue their Soft world tour to Asia in Bangkok and Tokyo this October, as well as a series of dates in Australia in November.