Last Tuesday, Laufey and Suki Waterhouse played the second night of Laufey’s highly anticipated “A Matter Of Time” tour at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
On September 16th, over 17,000 adoring fans joined in the sold-out venue to experience the emotional highs and lows of their music live. Most all of the fans were dressed to impress, bringing out their best “Laufey-core” outfits, making the show, as Laufey said, “Feel like a gala.”
Over the past few years, 26-year-old Laufey Jónsdóttir has taken the world by storm with her dreamy jazz-infused sound. Originally gaining fame on Instagram through singing standards on livestreams during the COVID-19 lockdowns, she has made an unbelievable mark in a short amount of time, winning her first Grammy in 2024 and now starting her first arena tour.
The opener for the show, Suki Waterhouse, has found fame over the years in many areas besides music. She has gained notoriety as a model, actress and musician, which is a true testament to her talent. She ended her set with the song “Good Looking” which saw popularity in TikTok back in 2022. Compared to the studio version, hearing her wistful vocals live made the song all the more emotional.
Shortly after Suki Waterhouse left the stage, fans were brought into the vintage world of “A Matter of Time”. Accompanied by regal fanfare and the main set piece of the show, a massive split staircase, the Film Noir-inspired title card marked the beginning of an incredible performance. The show was structured into five acts. Before she came onto the stage, she was preceded by orchestral music reminiscent of old Disney classics.
She opened up the show with the first song off the new album, “Clockwork”. The rest of the Act consisted of “Lover Girl”, “Dreamer”, “Falling Behind”, “Silver Lining”, “Bored”, and finished off with “Too Little, Too Late”. Throughout the show, she showed immense gratitude for her fans, saying multiple times that she could not believe all the people were here for just her, even claiming to have feelings of imposter syndrome.
In yet another show of love to her fans, each night she selects a “Best Dressed Guest” and brings them to the stage to show off their outfit to the arena and be recognized by Laufey and her team. Mei Mei The Bunny, the officiant of this ceremony as well as Laufey’s mascot, awards a crown to a guest in a beautiful coronation that will create unforgettable memories between Laufey and the chosen fan.
For the second act of the show Laufey and parts of her accompanying band came to the front platform on the stage in which she welcomed fans to her “Jazz Club” Going back to her jazz inspired roots she played “Seems Like Old Times” a bonus jazz standard off her newest albums, as well as new renditions of “Valentine”, “Fragile”, and “While You Were Sleeping” that sounded like they could have been heard on Bourbon Street. The act ended with a solo performance of one of her first viral hits, “Let You Break My Heart Again”.
The third act was the shortest of the five, consisting of three songs off her newest album, “Carousel”, “Forget-Me-Not”, and finally “Cuckoo Ballet (Interlude).” Throughout the show Laufey was backed up by a band and string section as well as background dancers, but to end off the third act they were the stars of the show. Two Ballerinas took the stage to perform during the interlude, while Laufey was at the front of the stage playing the cello part.
The fourth act started with the song “Mr.Eclectic” a funny jab towards the concept of the “Performative Male” that has come around in the past year. Funnily enough, the song was written long before the trend came around, making the relevance of the concept just a convenient coincidence. From there, she played the tracks “Castle in Hollywood” and “Promise”. During the bridge of the latter song, Laufey let the audience have the spotlight, quieting down to let their voices fill the arena. She later posted on Instagram that the moment was “All She’d ever dreamed of”. For the rest of the act, she played “Goddess”, “Tough Luck”, “Snow White”, and her viral song from her previous album, “From The Start”.
While introducing “Snow White” she got more vulnerable with the audience, explaining the importance this song had for her. She warned the audience, saying that “This song is a little more sad, but that's okay, cause we all get sad sometimes”. She explained her issues with her insecurities and how she thought stardom could dismiss those worries. She then elaborated that the spotlight may have even increased her worries, but it also helped her make peace with and find beauty in her flaws. The stage design complemented this song extremely well, with mirrors rolling onto the stage surrounding Laufey as she sang.
Between the fourth and fifth acts, a skit between Laufey and Junia, her twin sister and creative manager, was played on the screens. It showed them bickering over the costumes Laufey wanted to wear, those including a bee, a prison inmate, Snow White, an alarm clock, and Alexander Hamilton. Despite Junia not being able to play violin during “From The Start” in this tour, like she did in “The Goddess Tour” of 2024, it was good to see her still included by her sister in the tour.
The Final Act of the show was only one song, but it had a major impact nonetheless. For the last song of the show, she played “Sabotage.” This song perfectly encapsulates the feeling of self-sabotage that can come with relationships. Its starting piano part and soft vocals are starkly contrasted by the intense cacophony of strings at the end of the first chorus. Hearing this song for the first time, I knew this moment would be incredible to experience in concert, and I was completely correct. The addition of the drum fills from the live band, the flashing strobe lights, and the intense bass from the venue speakers all startled me in the best way possible. In the ending, the screens flashed visuals from the concert while the main lighting fixture descended from the ceiling like a falling chandelier. The similarly intense outro, although very different from her usual works, served as an incredible ending to the concert.
Despite Act 5 being shown as the “Final Act” she did come out for an encore. For the encore, she played the deeply personal piece “Letter to my 13 Year old Self,” a reflective song illustrating all the change she’s gone through and all the things she’d accomplished that she never thought she could. Before she began, she talked about how she wanted to love so badly when she was younger, but only experienced it vicariously through books and movies. She followed it up, saying that seeing that she didn’t look like the artists she saw in headlines made her dream of becoming a pop star feel like an impossibly distant future. She encouraged the audience to chase their dreams no matter how crazy or out of reach they might seem.
This show was a beautiful representation of Laufey both as a musician and a person. It was a masterfully curated experience on all fronts, between the music, lighting, set design, and staging. I have been to two of her shows, counting this one, and despite the much larger scale of this concert compared to the previous one I attended, it still managed to achieve the intimate nature of most of her songs thrive in that easily could have been lost in such an up-scaled production. As of writing this, the tour has only been going for a week, so I can not wait to see what else she brings to the stage in the coming year.
Laufey’s “A Matter of Time” Tour will continue on the following dates
9/18/25 Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
9/20/25 Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
9/21/25 Austin, TX @ Moody Center
9/23/25 Phoenix, AZ @ Desert Diamond Arena
9/24/24 San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena San Diego
9/26/25 Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena
9/27/25 Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena
9/29/25 Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
9/30/25 San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
10/2/25 Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
10/4/25 Arena Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge
10/6/25 Salt Lake City, UT @ Delta Center
10/8/25 Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
10/10/25 Chicago, IL @ United Center
10/11/25 Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
10/13/25 Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
10/15/25 New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
10/16/25 New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
10/19/25 Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
10/20/25 Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
10/21/25 Laval, QC @ Place Bell
10/23/25 Washington, D.C. @ Capital One Arena
10/24/25 Philadelphia, PA @ Xfinity Mobile Arena
10/27/25 Boston, MA @ TD Garden
***Following shows not including Suki Waterhouse***
2/18/26 Zürich, Switzerland @ Hallenstadion
2/19/26 Düsseldorf, Germany @ Mitsubishi Electric Halle
2/22/26 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Royal Arena
2/24/25 Berlin, Germany @ Velodrom
2/26/25 Vienna, Austria @ Stadthalle
2/28/26 Brussels, Belgium @ ING Arena
3/1/26 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome
3/2/26 Paris, France @ Adidas Arena
3/4/26 Manchester, UK @ Co-op Live
3/6/26 Dublin, Ireland @ 3Arena
3/8/26 London, UK @ The O2
3/9/26 London, UK @ The O2
3/14/26 Kópavogur, Iceland @ Kórinn Arena
3/15/26 Kópavogur, Iceland @ Kórinn Arena
4/12/26 Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
4/19/26 Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
