Laufey brings a night of Jazz to London, live at the O2 - Review

Laufey turned The O2 Arena into her own jazz club on the 9th March 2026; her second sold out night at The O2 as part of her A Matter Of Time tour. The tour was filled to the brim with dancing, bunny ears, and felt crowns, and was dubbed “the most laid back big gig” some of the attendees had “ever been to” (- Chloe Green, attendee).

This laid back vibe started with Alice Phoebe Lou as Laufey’s opener. With a set full of upbeat songs and lyrics to get the crowd waving their torches, it was the perfect warm up for Laufey. Alice even took time to mention the unusual British weather that we had that day… It was sunny in London!

Laufey’s set began with many old hollywood-esque motifs including a curtain drop, a full band including strings, live dancers, and more, even featuring a clock on the catwalk part of the stage; a nod to her album ‘A Matter Of Time’. She twirled onto the stage in a gorgeous blue princess-like dress, before heading straight into the first part of her set, starting with ‘Clockwork’. This was closely followed by ‘Lover Girl’ which had to of course include the now iconic ‘Lover Girl claps’ where the audience clap along with Laufey during certain parts of the song. After a few more songs, Laufey went on to speak to the crowd saying how much she loves certain parts of the UK including “London,” “British people,” “a British boy,” “tea,” and of course the one and only “Paddington The Bear”. She went on to further say how inspired she is by London and that she is “so happy to get to share this all” with the audience, before mentioning that she is “so far from being bored” with her tour. This in fact turned out to be a cheeky introduction to her playing ‘Bored’ as the song closing “Act 1” of her set.

Photo Credit: Nicole Mago

An interlude composed of strings is what transitioned us into “Act 2” of Laufey’s set. With a “welcome to my jazz club” from Laufey, an outfit change into a stunning flapper-style piece, and a smaller stage set up at the end of the catwalk including a microphone, piano, drum kit, and double bass, the venue indeed felt as though we had been transported to Paris for a night of Jazz. When explaining this part of her set, Laufey explained how she wanted to “feel close” to the audience and how she wanted the experience to feel "intimate". Following this explanation, we were then blessed by swing and jazz versions of some of her songs including ‘Valentine’, ‘Fragile’, ‘While You Were Sleeping’, and more, which were truly incredible to hear. Her songs on their own are amazing, but to be granted this opportunity to hear them performed as a different genre was unbelievable to witness. The set was brought to a close with another now iconic part of Laufey’s tour shows, where she and Mei Mei (her adorable friend and bunny mascot) crown the best dressed attendee of the concert. The winner for our night wore a gorgeous dress with forget me nots all over the skirt frame, and even had a Big Ben headpiece!

“Act 3” although short, was one filled with nothing more than what I can describe as whimsy and childlike joy. An instrumental version of ‘Carousel’ was used as an interlude before Laufey appeared atop of her stage to begin singing songs such as ‘Forget-Me-Not’. The stage for this part of her set was perhaps my favourite of the evening, with dancers using spinning umbrellas with horses on them as if they were tiny carousels, and evening the background graphics spinning like one too. “Act 3” ended with a stunning ballet performance from some of the dancers whilst Laufey played the cello, before continuing whilst Laufey went off stage to change for the next act.

Speaking of changing, the transition between acts 3 and 4 was graced by an extremely fun video of Laufey and her twin sister Junia discussing different outfit options for the tour. Including fun options like bee outfits and a clock, the video got the whole audience giggling along with the girls. When Laufey did appear once again, she was in a very fun outfit made up of a jacket co-ord with frills, before quickly giving a quick cameo to the book that she created.

“Act 4” was one that left no dry eye in the room. With songs such as ‘Promise’ and ‘Goddess’, this emotional part of the set was incredible to take in. One part in particular that stuck out for me was Laufey’s performance of ‘Snow White’, and her introduction to it. She talked about how ‘A Matter Of Time’ was all about the different parts of growing up, and that  “as women were put into 2 boxes: Soft and sweet or simply angry. Sometimes women are all of the above”. She further went into detail about the struggles of growing up with the “constant struggle of body image” and how ‘Snow White’ is all about this and the “very confusing relationship that a woman has with her mirror,” and how she “wanted to write that into a song”. The ‘Snow White’ performance was breathtaking, using mirrors in props, and brought everyone, including myself, into tears. Laufey wanted to remind us all that if any of us ever had or have any struggles or doubts, that “thousands of people around the world feel the same,” and that we are “not the only one feeling this”. In fact, she even said that knowing this makes her “feel less alone,” which is a beautiful and meaningful message to take in.

Completely contradicting this slower and more emotional part of the set, Laufey closed “Act 4” of her set by going straight into playing a more upbeat version of the extremely popular ‘From The Start’ and by firing confetti into the crowd, whilst also adding a London sash to her outfit in doing so.

For her fifth and “Final Act”, Laufey played three songs for us including ‘Sabotage’ and her newest song ‘How I Get’, which is off of the unreleased ‘A Matter Of Time: The Final Hour’ which is the deluxe version of her most recent album. Before performing her final song, Laufey donned a gorgeous handmade crown (which is why many of the crowd wear them too), before giving a closing speech to the audience. She says that her advice to everyone is to “be brave, find the thing that makes yourself unique and lean fully into it”, which is what she believes helped her after reflecting on her music and career. Ending the night with a song Laufey describes as “a lullaby to leave you (the audience) with,” she goes on to play ‘A Letter To My 13 Year Old Self’. My favourite moment of the night had to have been in this song where, after the lyrics “one day you’ll be up on stage, little girls will scream your name,” the crowd did in fact scream Laufey’s name. It was truly a beautiful thing to see this ‘I made it’ moment on one of the two biggest shows of Laufey’s tour, and it was the perfect end to such an incredible evening.

Although the UK leg of Laufey’s ‘A Matter Of Time’ tour has now ended, the tour is still ongoing in other countries, and the deluxe version of the album ‘A Matter of Time: The Final Hour’ comes out on the 10th April. Be sure to give it a listen as it is truly worth it! I hope that you find it as heartwarming and meaningful as I did.

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