Live Review: LØLØ in Haarlem

On Sunday, November 3rd, it was time for LØLØ to give her Dutch fans a night to remember. Together with support act GUS, they made their way to Stage 2 at Patronaat in Haarlem. This was the last date of the ‘U Tour Me On’ tour. Fans were able to buy VIP tickets to the show, giving them a meet & greet, individual photo, acoustic performance, tote bag, and a signed laminate with lanyard. 

The night started with GUS, who immediately caught the attention of the crowd. A few fans already knew all his songs and were singing along as much as they could. On stage he was joined by Erica Fox on guitar and Zoë McMillan, who happens to be his cousin, on the drums. They all were smiling wide and their energy was radiating throughout the hall. For most songs, GUS gave a little introduction, explaining what the songs are about. ‘Cut the Kite String’ is about him moving from Canada to Los Angeles and missing his family and friends who he left behind. For the fourth song of his set, ‘Big Things Small Seeds’, the fans sang along as loud as they could. 

Especially for a support act where people might not know them yet, a cover that everyone can sing along to is always a fun addition to the setlist. Tonight, Gus played ‘Taste’, originally by Sabrina Carpenter. As expected, the lyrics were sung loudly and afterwards he jokingly said “it seems like you know the words to that one”. 

One song in particular felt only fitting to be played in the Netherlands. He explained that it usually feels a bit off to play, but over here it was just right to play his song ‘Stoned’. After the song ended he asked the crowd to pose, so he could get a photo with them. He ended his set with ‘Hurricane’, which was the crowd favourite of the night. Especially the lyrics “Fuck this, you’re not ruining my summer” were screamed along loudly. 

One thing that stood out was his amazing stage presence. He interacted with the people at the barricade, singing into their filming phones. The whole band had fun with each other, with Erica occasionally making it over to Zoë, giving her a fist bump as she walked past. 

There were lots of Green Day songs making an appearance into the pre-show playlist, making people happily sing along. Right before LØLØ made her way to the stage, the song ‘All Time Low’ by Joe Bellion played through the speakers. This song was probably carefully picked out, since the “low low low” bit sounds like “LØLØ”. At first her guitarist, Ben Healey, and drummer, Jaden Spanier, walked out on stage, playing ‘intro’. Soon after, LØLØ herself walked out, kicking right into the song ‘omg’. 

This was LØLØ’s first headline tour in Europe and she explained that she was very nervous to do it. She was scared people wouldn’t come, so thanked the crowd for proving her wrong and filling the room. Most songs got introduced with a little explanation about what it’s about and during them she was very expressive, signing out the words. 

People in the crowd started pointing to someone since he wanted to show off he was wearing an older LØLØ shirt. She then said she recognised him, because she doesn’t forget cute boys. 

It was time for a pop-punk anthem: ‘debbie downer’. This song was originally featuring Maggie Lindemann, but for this show, GUS joined back on stage. Halfway through the song, they handed out pompoms to people in the crowd and asked for two cheer captains. Two fans got picked out and got to go on stage to do the dance for the song.

For some of the songs, LØLØ also played guitar, like ‘u turn me on (but u give me depression)’, ‘poser’ and ‘*snow in berlin*’. We also got a cover of Lorde’s ‘Liability’ and she did a chorus of The Killers’ ‘Mr. Brightside’ during her song ‘faceplant’.

The night was filled with a mixture of slow sad songs and songs you could dance along and scream to. During ‘i would fix u if i could’, the fans had organised a project with paper hearts, which they held up into the air.  “This song is really good to scream along to” is how she introduced ‘poser’. Fans were singing along loudly, but for the chorus she said “Haarlem, I wanna sing this chorus so loud that our exes feel it in their fucking bones!”, to which the fans sang along even louder than before. 

While LØLØ left the stage before the encore, the fans started chanting her name until she came back. She walked back out, wearing a shirt that said “Netherlands, u get me so damn high”. She ended her set with ‘*snow in berlin* and fan favourite ‘hot girls in hell’. 

Written by: Sabine de Graaf

Photographed by: Sabine de Graaf

Edited by: Nèri Cliteur