Concert Review: Carly Rae Jepsen at Pier 17

CRJ gave her all on Tuesday night after storms disrupted Monday's set

Carly Rae Jepsen may have peaked commercially in 2012, but artistically, she’s been consistently delivering quality bodies of work since 2015’s criminally underrated Emotion. Her song “Call Me Maybe” spent the entire summer atop the Billboard Hot 100 (nine weeks, total), and was nominated for two Grammy Awards including Song Of The Year. It’s bubblegummy essence and chorus that begs to be sung along can still overtake a room over a decade later. 

In some respects, she seems aware that she’s unlikely to replicate that peak. Though there’s a consistent through-line of confectionary, cavity-inducing pop records, she also has a no-fucks-given attitude. In the midst of some killer pop records, she’ll mix in something like, say, drum-and-bass onto a song (“After Last Night”) because, hey, who’s gonna stop her? 

Five songs into her set at the Pier 17 in Manhattan on Monday August 7, a thunderstorm rolled in and forced her to cut the show short. However, foam sword in hand, she vowed to make it up to her fans. After some quick movements, she jetted over to Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side and instructed fans to head there, promising access to the first 150 with tickets for Monday’s show. When a bigger-than-expected crowd turned out, she instigated a club shuffle. She delivered three six-song sets for fans. THEN, as if that wasn’t enough, she performed a matinee show at Pier 17 on Tuesday at 3pm for the Monday night crowd. After all that, she took the stage again at 8pm on Tuesday night and gave the Tuesday night crowd one of her best performances to date. 

I’ve been to over 200 concerts in my life, but every now and then something about a show causes it to stand out from the rest. Carly Rae Jepsen stood out on Tuesday night at Pier 17. The Canadian pop fairy had just endured a wild 24-hours, and let none of it slow her down nor detract from her show. If anything, it fueled and enhanced it. 

Over one hour and forty minutes, Jepsen unleashed a 26-song set, which, until the 32-song set she delivered on Sunday night’s tour-closing show, was the longest of the tour. She seemed determined to stay on stage as long as possible, perhaps in part because there were no rain clouds in sight. She was also having the time of her life, at one point even alluding to the crowd that this show was one of her best to date.

She spent most of her set focused on her two latest releases, 2022’s The Loneliest Time and 2023’s The Loveliest Time, but interjected with moments from earlier releases to properly bridge the gap between old and new. It was a refreshing and welcomed shift and a contrast to last year’s So Nice Tour setlist, which largely avoided The Loneliest Time, the album it was supporting. 

Jepsen has made no bones about shuffling her setlist deck, switching up entirely at times. Tuesday night was no exception. Initially delivering a fifteen-song set, she’s added a solid 10 songs since, a clear indication that the tour is resonating with her. 

The performance also reinforced that notion. Jepsen was nothing short of electric and euphoric. After essentially delivering four sets in the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday night, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable if she dialed it back and opted for a reserved, low key set. But no. She was more alive and active than I’ve ever seen her before (this being the fourth time, third full show). 

There was something else about the show that was remarkable. A friend of mine who also attended the show encapsulated it best: it felt safe. In a world where queer people are increasingly being forced to feel uncomfortable to even exist, something about that space on the roof of Pier 17 created safety, comfort, and freedom. The entire show felt like the encapsulation of queer joy, which, as is not historically unusual, was delivered at the hands of a straight woman. 

The setlist she delivered for the show was full of the danceable pop bops that have become Jepsen’s signature. She actually performed more songs from 2022’s The Loneliest Time during this show than she did last year on the So Nice tour, which supported that album. Highlights from this show included the album’s opener “Surrender My Heart,” the driving “Joshua Tree,” and the bombastic “Talking To Yourself.” 

There were other moments that were pure magic. One cut from the new album in particular, “Psychedelic Switch,” has become a fan favorite. When that record came on, the crowd erupted, the same goes for “I Really Like You,” the lead single to 2015’s Emotion. She got a notable response when the disco-y “Shooting Star” started, with its city-adoring lyric “I still believe in my New York City,” eliciting a reaction from the crowd. 

But nothing ignited the room like the tried and true favorites. “Call Me Maybe” was naturally a sing-a-long moment because you’d have to have been living under a rock to not have been swept up by the song back in 2012. “Run Away With Me,” which she performed near the top of the show, also activated the crowd, as did the show’s closing number, “Cut To The Feeling.” 

In recent years, Jepsen also hasn’t been afraid to dial it back and inject a ballad into her repertoire. She performed three of them during the show. The most poignant being “Kollage,” from her new album. It was clearly an affecting moment: it brought Jepsen to tears mid-song. She managed to compose herself enough to make it through the song, but it reinforced some previous comments she made about the relationship she has to the song. 

For me though, the show’s high point arrived when she delivered the live premiere of “Come Over,” from Loveliest. It’s my favorite cut off the album, and she’d given little indication that it would earn a live performance. When it began, I turned to my friend in the crowd and screamed “she’s fucking doing it!” and proceeded to sing along, jump, scream, and allowed it to propel me to a place of pure joy. To get truly lost in the music at a show is one of the most incredible gifts in this life. And I found it right then and there during Carly’s show.