This post was updated July 24 at 4:39 p.m.
At the end of a grave-lined dusky walk, Suki Waterhouse welcomed fans into her Loveland with an enchanting performance.
The English model, actress and singer-songwriter kicked off her second show of the “Loveland Tour” on Thursday at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The artist’s third headlining tour began July 22 in Arizona. The 90-minute set consisted of 20 songs, most of which were tracks from her album “Loveland,” which came out July 10, along with hits from her previous two albums and EP. While Waterhouse left off fan favorites such as “Model, Actress, Whatever,” her radiant stage presence ensured the crowd never stopped dancing across the cemetery lawn.
After Charlotte Lawrence closed her opening set with a crowd-favorite cover of the Cranberries’ “Zombie,” fans rose to sing along before settling back onto picnic blankets or squeezing near the stage as Waterhouse stepped out at 8:30 p.m. framed by the cemetery’s looming headstones. The headliner’s set began with an audio of a phone call that encouraged listeners to “stay on the line” whether they came to “Loveland” for love, trouble or a bit of both. Silhouetted in washes of red and pink light, casting a dramatic shadow, Waterhouse mimed an arrow striking her chest before she removed it and waved a prop arrow as the up-tempo “Supersad” began to play.
The singer radiated with white cat-eye sunglasses, a feathered flowy coat, a fitted shiny set and knee-high lace-up boots. Framed with pink chiffon curtains and punctured with arrows, the stage held a mirror-tiled anatomical heart at the center. The lighting design was mesmerizing, championing pink and red ambiance with rhythmic flashes and beams that cut through whimsical smoke.
The opening chords of “Supersad” animated the crowd immediately as fans shouted, “I look so much better, when I don’t care.” Waterhouse sustained this energy throughout her next two songs, “Tiny Raisin” and “OMG,” introducing the tracks with flirtatious compliments for the audience. As the artist moved further down the stage in “Any Man,” the force of the stage fans sent her hair and feathery ensemble billowing around her, creating a halo-like frame for the singer’s profile that echoed her discography’s dreamy sound.
While “Any Man” drew a quieter response than the opening three songs, the audience stayed engaged as Waterhouse strutted confidently across the stage, often gesturing elegantly to mimic the lyrics she sang. Waterhouse’s physicality became one of the concert’s most captivating elements, as her modeling background appeared in her beautiful poses and graceful transitions.
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Then, the artist welcomed the Los Angeles audience to “Loveland,” before launching into the album’s opening track “Back in Love,” featuring trumpet and saxophone which added vibrant, vintage warmth into the performance. In “Jukebox,” Waterhouse led the audience in a brief call-and-response cheer allowing the crowd to become a backing chorus. “My Fun” lived up to its name as both Waterhouse and the audience savored the song’s candid joy and free-spirited feel, while “Happy With It” revealed her ability to command attention in quieter moments as she performed infectiously, stomping playfully around the stage.
“Moves” proved to be a crowd favorite. The cathartic tune was introduced by the singer urging the crowd to be bold and take risks and featured Waterhouse’s rousing hand gestures and a strong vocal backing from the audience. The last notes of “Moves” dissolved into ambient chords, blending seamlessly into “Notting Hill” as Waterhouse settled onto the arrow-pierced piano. While the performer was dimly lit and almost hard to focus on during this song, the crowd seemed to enjoy singing the memorable chorus of the tune regardless.
After “18, ”a bonus track off “Loveland,” Waterhouse’s brief disappearance was filled with another recorded voicemail that cleverly introduced the sultry tune “When I Get Drunk (I Want You Boy).” Waterhouse returned with a costume change: a darker pink-toned, less voluminous feather-trimmed coat with looser satin shorts and a crop tank top displaying lyrics “I feel so famous” from her song “Notting Hill.” The crowd was quieter but remained captivated as Waterhouse moved sensually across the stage to the song’s groovy undertone.
Almost abruptly following was Waterhouse’s most popular song “Good Looking,” which prompted many audience members to gasp in excitement and lift their phones to film. The performance was ethereal, with Waterhouse’s sweeping arm movements sending her feathery drapery cascading behind her. The audience’s voices rose louder than they had all night, echoing each lyric back to her against the song’s shimmery instrumentation.
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During “Dream Woman,” Waterhouse transformed the stage, which beheld a dramatic contrast between illuminated smoke and darkness as she delivered a hauntingly beautiful melody. The singer continued her spellbinding vocals with hit “Johanna.”
After a joke about her arrow-covered set design and explaining the British slang term “mardy,” in reference to her next song’s petulant attitude, Waterhouse radiated a rock-star spirit and angst with “Puppy Dog Eyes.” Feigning farewell, the performer returned with a three-song encore, including a performance of “Weirdo” featuring her neighbor and alternative music icon Beck. While the artist’s vocals were occasionally difficult to hear, the pairing remained compelling on stage: Waterhouse’s confident, sweeping movements contrasted with Beck’s minimalist, more timid stage presence.
The artist closed her set with “To Love,” from her sophomore album “Memoir of a Sparklemuffin,” sprinkled generously with kisses blown to the audience, big smiles from Waterhouse and the audience’s swaying hands. The singer-songwriter’s natural showmanship and romantic visual style crafted a captivating show to a lively yet laid-back audience, offering longtime fans or casual listeners alike an evening of entertainment, nostalgia and a uniquely intimate picnic.
Waterhouse surely left concertgoers feeling “Back in Love” after a moonlit night during which feather silhouettes, flowy movement and unapologetic anthems transformed a cemetery lawn into a dreamlike world.
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