Wrapping up her first ever tour, indie singer-songwriter Hannah Bahng performed a sold out show in Los Angeles. At day two of her LA shows, the Australian singer easily packed The Echo full of fans ready to enjoy the “worst night of their lives.”
The show was short, with only 11 songs on the setlist including the encore, but it was certainly memorable and meaningful. Kicking off with “OLeander,” Hannah first emerged on stage with blue lights blazing, symbolizing her debut single, “perfect blues.” This would be a consistent theme throughout the night, as the lights steadily stayed blue for most of the concert. After a smooth transition directly into her next song, “tonight’s the night i die to a frank ocean song,” the singer took a moment to introduce herself to her crowd of cheering fans. “I’m Hannah Bahng, and welcome to The Abysmal Tour,” she said, before expressing her sincerest gratitude to the audience for coming to her first tour. Due to the intimate nature of the venue, fans were able to directly engage with Hannah, delivering compliments and having conversations with her while she was onstage. Wrapping up the talk segment by thanking a fan who shouted that she was pretty, Hannah introduced the next two songs as the happiest she has ever written.
In truth, her “happiest” songs were really her most somber, emotional songs, “hannah interlude” and “Vertigo.” The singer performed the two songs while playing piano, allowing attendees to appreciate her raw live vocals. Hannah’s light and airy yet powerful voice carried throughout the venue, bringing her emotions along with it. As the lyrics for “Vertigo” in particular are like Hannah’s monologue about feeling lost from constantly running away from her emotions, this stunning performance could be an ode to her growth, as she showed her truest emotions and poured her heart into each word. In particular, during the bridge of the song, a musical accompaniment began to play over the speakers, filling the space with orchestral instrumentals that added an extra layer of depth to the song. With a burst of bright blue light, it was as if Hannah — and her audience — were being fished out of the sea after a long and sinking battle.
The singer-songwriter’s other performances were also just as impressive. She performed a cover of Bill Withers’ “Just The Two Of Us,” the song that helped her agent find her on TikTok, and a cover of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer,” one of her favorite songs to sing. She also prepared a special Rubiks Cube battle, choosing one attendee from the crowd to participate and see who could solve the Rubiks Cube faster. She mentioned that she only lost once this tour in San Francisco, and the night’s battle ended up being another win for the singer. She also prepared unreleased songs, “Ribs” and “What Never Lived,” giving fans an inside glimpse of her upcoming releases.
Despite all these great performances, “Vertigo” remained the best. That is, until, the singer performed the tour’s titular track, “Abysmal.” Similar to “Vertigo,” this performance was paired with a piano until the bridge of the song, in which orchestral instrumentals joined in. Emotions seemed to run even higher with this performance, perhaps due to it being the song the tour took its name from, or perhaps because the audience fed into this energy even more, screaming the lyrics along. Regardless, the heightened emotions and dramatic flair of the last minute of the song left the audience’s ears ringing, lingering in everyone’s mind even as she breezed through the final tracks and ended the tour with an encore performance of her debut song, “perfect blues.”
As the Abysmal EP is a deeply personal album, it was only fitting that Hannah Bahng’s show would match that energy, all with her heart on her sleeve. Wrapping up the night with one more earnest “thank you,” she concluded by reiterating that she hopes everyone “had the worst night of their lives,” before exiting the stage with one big final bow. Although short, the show was certainly impactful, as its simplicity truly allowed fans to see just who Hannah Bahng is, and how her talent shines even through hazy blues.
Click on the photo below to view our photos from the concert:
