Chloe Moriondo live in London: A night bumping at the club in Atlantis
On September 25th, the alt-pop artist Chloe Moriondo closed out her International Oyster Tour with an unforgettable night at the O2 Academy Islington.
Travelling across the pond in honour of her latest album, Chloe has called oyster “a culmination of many things: newfound independence that makes you feel like a baby turtle trying to make it to sea for the first time on your own, horrible habits and all-encompassing infatuations that cling to you like urchins, self-reflection, self-scrutiny, crying, laughing, dancing and swimming.”
For this near sold-out London show, special guest Yuneki opened the show at 8pm sharp, accompanied by her guitarist Jim and a pink neon sign so no fan in the room could forget her name. “London, this is the last gig of the tour and its been so beautiful. We’re in my hometown, so lets make it a great one,” she said before opening with her debut single, Like Honey.
Her vocals matched by harmonies from her guitarist, Yuneki played a mix of older songs from her first EP, Born Without Skin alongside more recent ballads like Sleepwalking and Baby Teeth. For the latter, Yuneki confessed that the song “is for everyone with mummy issues”, to which most of the crowd jokingly cheered.
“I just wanted to take a moment to say how grateful I am,” she said afterwards, pausing to thank Chloe and her team. “This has been my first tour ever and its so beautiful!”
After a couple more sad songs, Yuneki brought the energy up with Without You, a so-called “sexy little angry song” with a backing track of heavy drums. Veering further into the realm of soulful R&B, she then announced her last song: “I’m so sad, I don’t want to say bye to you guys! This one’s a big ‘fuck you’ to my ex boyfriend and it’s a lot more hype.” Yuneki asked the room to get down for the bridge and jump extra hard if they hated their ex. Certainly not a crowd to miss out on the fun, Chloe’s fans obliged, jumping high and dancing to the beat. Energised by a stellar performance, the crowd offered Yuneki a huge cheer as she and guitarist Jim headed off stage.
After a half-hour break, the lights dimmed at 9pm as a cinematic countdown was projected onto the stage. The crowd held their breath as the visuals turned to swimming sea life, with oceanic sounds transporting fans into Chloe’s underwater stage. “Welcome to your world, which is an oyster. We hope you enjoy your stay. Are you bubbling with excitement? Can you hardly reel it in?” a voice-over whispered. Talking of “dangerous urchins” and “lonely sea sirens”, the room itself became an underwater bubble as the opening notes of abyss played and Chloe Moriondo ran onstage.
Wearing a pink river dolphin dress and genuine smile, Chloe had the crowd in the palm of her hands from the get-go, singing “I just wanna dance / Wanna kiss / Spinnin’ 'round and around in the abyss.” An upbeat, hyper-pop track that quite literally pulls listeners into the water, abyss was a perfect opener for the set, getting the entire room to dance in unison with Chloe.
Next came Celebrity, with the lights turning yellow as Chloe sprinted around the stage, standing on each of the three portable steps that lined its edge to get as close as possible to the audience. “Thank you, London - thanks so much for coming, holy shit! This is the last and largest show of the Oyster Tour. It makes me so happy to see all of you, I’m so so proud of this show and how we’ve made it and it makes me so happy to finally be back to play with you. I love this show so much its going to make me really sad to say goodbye to it. We’re playing old songs, we’re playing new songs and everything in between songs - I hope you love them!”
Picking up a bass guitar, Chloe introduced the following song Bodybag as a track “about loving someone so much you could fucking kill them.” The beloved eighth track from her 2021 album Blood Bunny, it seemed as if the entire crowd knew the lyrics, singing them back as loudly as possible. Perhaps coincidentally, next was Plastic Purse, another track eight but this time from her 2022 album, SUCKERPUNCH. A biting, frustrated and sarcastic track, fans summoned all their energy for the bridge, shouting the lyrics back to Chloe: “Like, how hard is it for a bonehead, cheez-it brain boy to text back? / Like, I know you’re not busy, I know you’re not working / I know you’re not doing anything important so what the f-”
Introducing her drummer Fiona and bassist Curly, Chloe told the crowd: “I’m so lucky to be on tour with my friends playing music that I love so much and have been waiting so long to share with you. I really hope you like the show!”
After a cheer-worthy air guitar performance for the solo in hate it, the singer played her favourite song from Blood Bunny: Take Your Time. “I love this song, I don’t think it’ll ever leave the setlist,” she confessed. “If you know the words, sing along.” With the lights flickering blue overhead, Chloe urged the crowd to sing for the chorus, turning the room into a choir of aah’s in harmony. So impressed by the crowd’s engagement, Chloe wanted to return the favour and asked for the house lights to come up for a second. “I want to see everyone!” she exclaimed as fans waved and made hand hearts at their favourite singer.
Floating effortlessly through her discography with the bedroom pop tracks, catch and Cdbaby<3, Chloe paused to tell fans: “It’s so great to look into the crowd and see how comfortable you are with expressing yourselves. I appreciate every head in this room for enjoying the show however you want to, whether you’re bopping your head, dancing or standing like this,” she laughed, freezing in place. “Those of you who do like to dance, do you want to come to barbie party land with me?”
Right on cue, the opening notes of DRESS UP played, which saw the artist transform into a doll-like figure as she moved about the stage. If there’s one thing you can take away from seeing her live, it’s that Chloe feels every single song in her bones.
To introduce the next song, oceanic sounds played over the speakers as fans whispered in anticipation. Not one to spare the details of a theme, Chloe brought the room right back into the world of Oyster for the love song, 7seas. In fact, very few people in the crowd even had their phones out to record the show, choosing instead to live in the moment and enjoy the music to its fullest extent.
“The inevitable of a Chloe Moriondo Show is that now it’s going to get sad,” she said. “I’m so grateful that I have such warm and welcoming crowds, because some songs on this album are really vulnerable but I love that you guys let me be mopey and miserable sometimes. This is shoreline, I hope you like it.”
Our favourite track from Oyster, it’s lulling synths and heart-wrenching lyrics translated perfectly to the stage, with Chloe opting for a more simple approach of standing with the microphone and really getting into her feelings. Fans at the barrier hugged and swayed in tune, and it seemed for a moment that the entire room took a deep breath. “That being the first single that we released from oyster was a little too personal and embarrassing for me but getting to connect with you guys over it is the best thing in the world,” she said afterwards.
Bringing back the audience participation that London crowds know and love, Chloe asked fans to wave for her next song, use, a track about bad habits that reads like poetry. “I love seeing your little hands, you’re like an ocean waving hello to me,” she smiled. For the saddest and final of the so-called ‘super mopey songs’, Chloe performed pond and was met by a sea of flashlights across the room.
"Everyone say hi, Kitty!" Chloe squealed as she picked up a pink guitar adorned with stickers. Admitting that it felt topical for the tour, she began strumming the opening chords of Manta Rays, a nostalgic fan-favourite from her 2021 album, Blood Bunny. Throughout the chorus, Chloe pointed lovingly at the crowd, singing: “It’s all for you / It’s always for you / It’s all for you / It’s never not for you.”
She then faded into a cover of Mitski’s Liquid Smooth before announcing: “These songs that we’re going to finish with are a party!” And party the crowd did, as the stirring synths of her latest album’s title track, Oyster played. A metaphor for the weight of life with lyrics like, “I am floating under all the pressure / Up, up, up, so I can breathe,” the shimmering track had everyone in the room singing along, feeling more and more weightless.
“I just released a song kind of recently,” Chloe paused to tell the crowd. “It’s what I picture bumping at the club in Atlantis where all the mermaids and merfolk are shaking ass.” With under the sea visuals once again projected on the white canvas behind, Chloe danced around the stage to an electric rendition of Girls with Gills. She winked at the crowd multiple times that there definitely wouldn’t be an encore, and ran off stage as the room fell into darkness, ocean sounds echoing through the space.
Less than a minute later, the crowd roared with excitement as Chloe ran back under the spotlight and announced her penultimate song, Fruity. With her pink guitar in tow, Chloe had the crowd singing louder than ever before to the hyper-pop track from her 2022 album, SUCKERPUNCH.
“Just out of curiosity, how many people in the crowd are gay?” she asked, and almost the entire room cheered. “As a member of the queer community myself, it's not lost on me how special and lucky it is to get to hold these spaces where we feel comfortable enough to be ourselves. I really love you. Gay people are forever, trans people are forever, I fucking love you!”
Continuing the theme of feel-good queer anthems, Chloe’s final song was I Wanna Be With You, a track popularised by its feature on the Heartstopper season one soundtrack back in 2022. A sentimental and cathartic conclusion to the show, it wasn’t long before Chloe ran off stage with a beaming smile and fans around the room held up heart hands, waving the beloved singer goodbye until next time.
For those who missed it, here’s the setlist from the London show:
abyss
Celebrity
Bodybag
Plastic Purse
hate it
Take Your Time
catch
cdbaby<3
DRESS UP
7seas
shoreline
use
pond
Manta Rays
Liquid Smooth (Mitski cover)
oyster
Girls with Gills
ENCORE:
18. Fruity
19. I Wanna Be With You
A night where the O2 Academy Islington was transported into the bubbling ocean depths through an ensemble of sea-themed anthems and bedroom-pop ballads, every part of Chloe’s show felt effortless and inspiringly thematic. Quite literally the epitome of popstar barbie, we hope to see Chloe back in London soon, and can’t wait to see what’s next for her!
To stay updated with Chloe’s journey, make sure to follow her on Instagram and stream her latest album, oyster on Spotify:
