Pier 17 (New York, NY)
08/08/23
Pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen performed an impromptu rooftop matinee show on August 8th at New York City’s iconic Pier 17 to a packed crowd of loyal fans. The previous evening, her set was unfortunately cut short just 4 songs in due to lightning, and as fans were ushered off the rooftop, Carly came back onstage to quickly apologize and promise that she was going to make up for it – and make up for it, she did. Later that evening, she posted online that she would be performing at Rockwood Music Hall – an historic small venue in NYC well known for having famous acts play despite its small size – to the first 150 people to show up who had tickets for that night’s show. Unsurprisingly, way more than 150 people showed up, and rather than turn fans away, Carly performed 3 separate times, cycling in a new group of fans for each performance. Rockwood, despite its beloved place in the New York music scene, has been open about its financial struggles and risk of needing to close – Jepsen later announced that she made a significant donation to Rockwood’s GoFundMe and encouraged fans to do the same. The respect she showed for her fans, the safety of her crew, and Rockwood Music Hall just goes to show what a class act performer and person she is. After all of that, she announced that all ticket holders for the canceled Pier 17 show were also invited to attend a matinee performance on the rooftop the following day – meaning she’d do two back to back, full scale performances in a row, as she had a show scheduled for that evening as well. Sure enough, her fans pulled through, many rearranging travel plans or calling off work to stay for the rescheduled show, and there were also a lot of fans who had planned to attend both shows excited to find themselves with the unique opportunity to see her twice in one day.
With no opener, Carly took right to the stage; the previous evening’s thunderstorm had passed, and beautiful blue skies surrounded her as she came out in a gorgeous light purple silk chiffon gown by Evan Clayton. She kicked off her set with a lively performance of “Let’s Sort The Whole Thing Out” off of her 2020 full-length album, Dedicated Side B, followed up with “Run Away With Me” from her 2015 full-length album, Emotion. She ultimately performed a full set of 18 songs plus a 3 song encore with her full band and backup singers and dancers, everyone bringing incredible stage presence and energy, showing no signs of the exhaustion they must have all been approaching. In fact, Carly even grabbed scissors from backstage at one point, cutting off the front of her gown mid-show so that she could more easily dance. Other standout moments include her energetic performance of “Call Me Maybe,” the audience dripping with nostalgia and excitement, and the crowd’s enthusiasm during the pre-encore finale of “Cut To The Feeling.” During the latter, 6 different plastic swords were tossed onstage at various points, Carly holding 3 at once at one point. Hearing the crowd shout along to, “I wanna dance on the roof,” while Carly swung swords and “cut through the clouds” on a New York City rooftop was magical, and felt as though that afternoon’s concert was always meant to happen in such a way.
