Review | Lizzy McAlpine’s ‘The Older Tour’

“I am kind of just doing whatever the fuck I want to do. … I’m not really in the mood anymore to do things just because that’s what everyone else does.” —Lizzy McAlpine

On February 20, Lizzy McAlpine hopped on Instagram Live for the first time in a while — the first time, notably, since her song “ceilings” found immense mainstream acclaim through TikTok. McAlpine, born and raised in Philadelphia, is no stranger to an internet audience, initially gaining traction through YouTube and SoundCloud uploads of her music. After her debut album Give Me a Minute, McAlpine released the album that would go on to change her life: Five Seconds Flat, which put her in front of the world’s discerning eye. Opposed to her label pushing her to release remixes or features on “ceilings,” the sudden fame caused her to run closer to herself, feeling uncomfortable with straying away from her authentic artistry.

This decision led to her deciding to go about her upcoming tour differently than before, too. “I’m doing tour the way that I want to do it…. I made this album with this band and I’m taking them on tour with me … because it makes sense to me to do that.”

It’s night one of McAlpine’s The Older Tour, which started in San Diego on April 21 and will wind its way through the U.S., Canada, and Europe through the fall, which means that nobody in the audience has any idea what she’s going to play. “I hope she plays ‘Angelina.’ I doubt she will, though,” a disgruntled fan laments behind me, as her friend laughs.

The setup of the stage looked like that of a recording studio. There were light brown walls, a door, a variety of homey lamps, chairs, instruments galore, and a window that mimicked a control room. Once the lights went down, several band members walked onto the stage, and all sat in a line facing the audience. McAlpine walked through the door last, and they all put on headphones to simulate them recording together.

McAlpine started the show with “The Elevator” and “Come Down Soon,” as the set list slowly unraveled into the track list of McAlpine’s latest album, Older. Highlights included the single “I Guess,” which most of the audience already knew the words to; “Staying,” with its sprawling, atmospherically reaching outro that the band went all in on; and “All Falls Down” with the lyric “23, and a sold-out show,” that made the audience scream in glee.

McAlpine didn’t address the audience much during the set, but at one point she beamed and exclaimed, “I’m gonna start to cry, so we should just play this song,” leading her into lead single “Older,” which she played more acoustically. The crowd chanted along to the outro, building in volume along with the band.

For fans of five seconds flat, McAlpine interspersed “doomsday,” “ceilings,” and “chemtrails.” The song “doomsday” was a natural choice to include in the set, with its studio recording sounding like a live band, while “ceilings” was reimagined. McAlpine sang it with a tenderness that did the song justice: slower, more spacey, and gentle. Then “chemtrails” followed “March,” both emotionally devastating tunes McAlpine wrote for her late father.

McAlpine offered some insights into the songs on Apple Music: “This song is about my dad, who passed away in 2020. Every 13th track on all of my albums is about him. He passed away on the 13th of March, and my first album came out on the 13th, and there were 13 tracks, and the 13th track was about him. I didn’t really plan that, but it created a tradition. I don’t really write about my dad with anyone because it’s just really heavy and personal, but I wrote this song with [songwriter/composer] Ethan [Gruska], who made me feel safe and open.”

It was a beautiful tribute, as the ethereal sounds at the end of “March” led into the faint vocals of “chemtrails,” a one-two punch analyzing memories and grief, coming to a head as McAlpine sighed “I miss it, I miss you.”

Toward the end of the show, McAlpine, overwhelmed, took the time to again tell the audience that she was so overjoyed she “almost cried when [she] first came out.” She also explained that they made the set look quite similar to the studio she recorded her album in, and expressed appreciation and praise for her band. It rang especially genuinely and intimately that McAlpine was attempting to bring the audience into her recording space, and it felt as though throughout the show you were peeking into her and her band’s sacred and innermost creative moments.

A rarity in modern day artists with the advent of quick musical virality on social platforms, The Older Tour is an example of how McAlpine doubled down on herself instead of feeding into what others wanted of her. And clearly — from her thoughtful set to a sold-out show of adoring fans — it appears the risk was worth it.