On July 16th, 2024, Lawrence brought their biggest headline tour, ‘The Family Business Tour,’ to the Live Music Hall in Cologne, Germany. Tickets for the show sold out almost immediately, making them upgrade to the almost 1,500-capacity venue, even though it is only their 2nd headline tour in Europe.
The eight-piece band, originally from New York City, was founded by siblings Gracie and Clyde Lawrence. The tour is named after their fourth studio album, ‘The Family Business,’ which was released about a month ago. The show in Cologne was the first of eight in Germany before the whole crew headed to North America to conclude the tour in autumn.
First up on stage was the support act, Jesse Gold, a musician from Toronto, Canada. He entered the stage alone, accompanied by his guitar, and told the crowd he’s really excited to be playing in Germany for the first time. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that most of the people in the crowd didn’t know who he was and proceeded to teach them the chorus to ‘One In A Million,’ getting the whole room to sing along in no time. When the sound on stage malfunctioned, he didn’t bat an eye and told the room to quiet down so he could perform the next song without his microphone while the issue got fixed. Everyone held their breath while listening to his amazing vocals, which were even more prominent without the mic.
“Let’s play a new song. I mean, they all sound new to you, right?” he says, introducing his next single, ‘Felt Too Good!’ which came out on July 19th. He played a few more songs, including a mashup of covers the crowd knows all too well, such as ‘It Wasn’t Me’ by Shaggy, ‘Leave (Get Out)’ by JoJo, and the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ theme song.
At last Jesse wanted to introduce the audience to his band – leading to him imitating a bassist, drummer, guitarist, and saxophonist before he took a final bow and headed off stage.
It was time to admire the beautiful stage set Lawrence had put together, as a commercial-like intro blasts through the speakers: “Welcome to the family business. We will be with you shortly. Until then please enjoy some hand-selected songs about family and business. See you soon.” The absurd amount of grey boxes, spread around on stage and stacked on top of each other, caught my eye first. Each one was labelled with a colourful sticky note saying things like, “I’m confident I have no idea what’s in here”, “Whatcha Need,” and my personal favourite: “Why are you reading this?” On the left side was a gigantic brown desk with a golden ‘L’ mounted to the front. Mugs, pencils, binders, and fake plants were scattered across the place. In addition to that, each of the eight band members had their own black metal nameplate.
Looking at the stage felt like you’ve stepped straight into an office, or dare I (we?) say, the family business?
‘We Are Family’ was the last song in the pre-show playlist before the room went dark and the lights flickered as the band entered the stage, all dressed in business attire. They took their designated places: Sam on drums, Jonny and Michael on guitar and bass. Sumner, Jordan, and Sam make up the horns, which include alto and tenor saxophones and a trumpet. The siblings Gracie and Clyde took the middle of the stage as lead vocals, with Clyde also on the keys.
The first song they performed is ‘Family Business,’ warming up the crowd to a breathtaking show swinging between “happy and excited” to “full-on existential crisis,” as Gracie described it. ‘Do,’ ‘Confident,’ and ‘Casualty’ were next before they let the crowd choose the following song by giving them three options. The audience very audibly agreed on ‘The Heartburn Song,’ during which Clyde’s keyboard broke, and he quickly switched to the tambourine while someone rushed to repair it.
The whole show was a pure whirlwind of emotions, at times seeming like it was straight out of a musical or 90s TV-show: Gracie and Clyde dancing over the stage, the horns jumping on the desk for a solo during ‘Guy I Used To Be’ and into the pit to be up-close with the fans.
Technical difficulties seem to be a frequent issue throughout the concert, but that doesn’t stop the band from giving their all. As the keys stopped working for the third time, Gracie joked, “Maybe we should play with backing tracks,” and then proceeded to do a little Q&A while someone came to look at the problem. Finally, the keys were working again, and the band performed a handful of old and new songs before transitioning to the acoustic set of the show. “Your call is important to us, please stay on the line,” chimed through the speakers, followed by instrumental music resembling that of a telephone hotline queue.
Lawrence sat down around the desk, now adding bongos and shakers to the mix of different instruments. For this show, they decided to play ‘The Weather’ for the first time during the acoustic set. Even though the acoustic set was a little quieter than the rest of the evening, it was just as groovy, and you could hear the entire room appreciating every second of it.
During a cover of Sean Paul’s ‘Get Busy,’ they clearly enjoyed themselves as one could see Gracie doing push-ups and jumping jacks while Jonny and Michael squatted throughout the entire song. Next up was ‘Don’t Lose Sight,’ for which the audience got divided to create a three-part harmony: the eldest, middle and only child and youngest sibling. And to my surprise: it worked! The crowd created a beautiful harmony together with the band before they headed off the stage, leaving everyone chanting and screaming for more.
It took a minute until the eight-piece was back on stage, playing an extra song as a thank you to the audience for sticking with them through all the technical difficulties. Next up was another cover, which they chose to perform together with Jesse, before they ended the night with ‘Watcha Want.’
When you go to a Lawrence show, you absolutely get your money’s worth with the show almost lasting two hours. Expect to be blown away by the sheer talent of everyone on stage, dance your heart out, and leave wanting more shows to feel like this: a wholesome family reunion.
Written by: Telja Riechel
Photographed by: Telja Riechel
Edited by: Shanna Henselmans
