I saw Maude Latour on her first euro tour

★★★★★

Maude Latour first euro tour [Image: The Aquarian]

‘I saw Maude Latour on her first euro tour!’ reads the pink type printed on shirts at the merch stand. A catchy hook, something Latour has proved to be somewhat a connoisseur of through four EP’s and shimmering full length debut ‘Sugar Water’.

Tonight, she’s bringing this catalogue of existential ennui, fleeting love and environmentalism straight to the centre of Glasgow, more specifically, The Attic bar located in the notorious Garage nightclub where other bands like Dopamine and Beth McCarthy have played.

The room is small, dark and a slight departure from the theatres and arenas she’s both headlined and supported in across the US.

It’s a headscratcher how with such acclaim from publications like ‘Rolling Stone’ and ‘Billboard’ Latour is still playing a venue of this size, however all concerns for the translation of her cosmic tunes to such a room were completely squandered the second she strode the stage.

Sporting multi-coloured highlights with a matching neon ensemble, Latour kicked off the set with exquisite album opener ‘Officially Mine’. The crowd were quick to respond and by the time we’d reached the head bopper, Summer of Love, Latour had successfully made this sticky floored jam pack, into a sacred sparkling haven.

As a performer Latour is to quote one track off Sugar Water, a true Cosmic Superstar Girl. Her energy is palpable and her passion fizzes fiercely behind every foot stomp and headbang.

She’s also incredibly crowd conscious but not in the nervy neurotic way, more in that she wants to give the best experience possible and is willing to run way over schedule.

The hand holding, the generous taking of requests, straight up ditching the stage to join the crowd, this is a performer who at times seems equally enthused by the audience as we are by her.

This pull between audience and performer felt particularly magnetic during songs like Lola and Infinite Roses.

Sugar Water tour [Image: Maude Latour website]

Latour starting out the first by instructing a crowd chant of “Keep my girls protected!” a lyric she’s dedicated to queer and trans people. The song explores themes of self-respect, climate awareness and the overlap that often occurs between friendship and romance. It was released in 2022 but with the current state of the world and the littering of traditionalist ideals in mainstream music, it’s a song we need to be taking note from now more than ever.

Lola is already a mighty pop manifesto but there’s something about singing it in a room full of kindred strangers that really puts it into practise.

The other moment of immense connectivity came with Infinite Roses, a stirring track about the unrivalled powers of friendship and its ability to save us from even the darkest of places.

It’s a sentiment that rang sobbingly special as I saw friends cling to each other and sing the lyrics with a sincerity that only comes from being able to map your own story from Latour’s source.

During the song Latour even tossed real roses out into the crowd (I caught one!) a touching turnaround from the traditional act of showering artists with treats and trinkets. Proving that to Latour it’s apparent the audience take centre stage.

It’s moments like these that make live music such a singular experience and in an increasingly digital society it is important we strive to keep these spaces alive.

There’s no replacement to witnessing our favourite songs get new life breathed into them or that intense momentary bond with a room of people you’ve never met as a pillar of your playlists performs the songs you’ve cried, daydreamed and danced to, all just mere feet away.

Latour’s first Glasgow gig was packed with these moments, from the jubilant euphoria of Ride My Bike. to the pop rock blast, Block Your Number. Latour brought the gravitas of a seasoned stadium trouper to this room no bigger than a classroom. However, one song, Cursed Romantics, her impeccable closer, channelled this energy more than any other.

It's a concise sucker punch pop that had the room rattled. In the break down and eventual build-up to that cathartic last chorus, a lovelorn Latour beckons down the mic ‘If we break up then I know I’ll find you somewhere, if we break up, yeah I hope we never break up!” on the surface it reads as a plea to a turbulent lover but in the context of this room it comes through as more of a promise to the audience that it won’t be long till she circles back around to us.

It’s bittersweet, as almost inevitably with the already accomplished catalogue Latour holds, the next time she’s here most likely won’t be in a venue so intimate and ‘I saw Maude Latour on her first euro tour!” will be more than just a print on a tour shirt but rather a coveted piece of pop cache to hang over those who were late to this, as Latour put it, ‘the existential rave of your dreams’.