Animator and musician, Louie Zong, known as @everydaylouie on Bluesky, played to a cozy crowd of fans alongside his friends and bandmates. The Emmy-nominated animator combines his love for storytelling, art, and music to create timeless tunes that never leave rotation. His style blends different genres: from jazz to funk to alternative indie. On YouTube, he merges his many abilities in short and sweet music videos, which showcase charming, simple animations alongside clean melodies.
In celebration of Louie’s decades long artistry, his solo concert featured a setlist jam packed with both oldies but goodies and new music. The sold-out show of around 130 audience members included eager fans and supportive friends. He would later admit he was afraid there wouldn’t be enough material to fill an entire hour, but through quick thinking and ingenuity, the show was a delightful hour of catchy tunes. Some portions of the concert were an upbeat “go with the flow” improvisation, which made some people in the crowd dance in their seats, shaking their heads to the beat of the song.
Starting off the hour with a riveting cover of Carmen’s “Habanera,” Louie and the band set a light, playful mood for the rest of the night. Laughter erupted as Louie and his band members made their way onstage, leading the group while playing his melodica. Alongside his friends—Amanda Marshall on violin, Ilai Gilbert on upright bass, Dante NK on drums, and later joined by Quinne Larsen on percussion and vocals—Louie made his first concert a night to remember.
Once they settled into their seats, the four (Amanda, Louie, Ilai, and NK) transitioned to a live band rendition of “Ghost Duet,” which spawned many covers since he posted it in 2017. Taking a moment to introduce the musicians alongside him, Louie noted that this was his “first time doing a concert of just (his) music.” He didn’t seem nervous at all, as just two months earlier, he was rocking with BLIB (Brian Louie Ian Band) at The Moroccan Lounge with Jeff Liu.
The next song was “Dolphin Destiny,” a recent funk track, which left out the stark electric keyboard notes for the live band version. After “feels like home,” a tune released in 2024, Louie and NK decided to do a freestyle version as NK may have left something important upstairs. Since they made the tune together, it was easy for them to match each other’s energy.
Ahead of the 2018 title, “Pit Stop,” Louie lamented over his vocals. “I have to sing eventually, but I don’t like my singing voice very much.” Of course, encouraging voices from both the crowd and his friends cheered him on and assured that they love his voice.
“This was a tune I wrote in college when I was 16-17, and it was a jazz tune,” said Louie, referring to “Hold On, Please!” Noting the song’s silliness and “uneven number of bars,” NK chimed in to ask if he could take a picture of the sheet music so he could reference it on his phone. Ilai also commented that he can’t read over Louie’s shoulder, and Amanda interjected to suggest grabbing another music stand. But the banter was interrupted by the crowd’s laughter, and they all decided to follow Louie’s lead.
Ending the song with a satisfactory smile, Louie introduced another guest, Quinne, who came on stage with a shruti box—an Indian instrument that’s used as a drum and has turntable knobs that create different notes. The shruti box was used as a bass for the next songs, a melancholic tune, with a violin leading the melody. Quinne’s vocals came to center stage as they moved onto “FIGURE IN THE BACKGROUND,” an indie rock song about a “mysterious uncle figure.” This track was released under the name SNAKE POOL, a group formed by the duo, Louie and Quinne.
Switching up the vibes, the ensemble performed a country cover of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Want You In My Room.” Quinne mentioned how Louie started playing it during the lockdown because he thought it was funny. “We’ve been playing it for years and now we get to play live,” exclaimed Louie. The band ended the song with an extended, rocking twang fit for a good old Western showdown.
Continuing the theme of country/Western songs, they performed a soulful cover of Dolly Parton’s “Say Goodnight.” Sharing his love for the wonderful songwriter that Parton is, he remarked how much he enjoyed the song’s jazzy chords. The group closed off the main set with a buoyant recreation of “hello world,” with Quinne providing moving vocals in contrast to the song’s original robotic intonation.
Surprising the audience with a one-of-a-kind treat, Louie created a beat in real-time using looped soundbites from the crowd. The musician has given an inside look into his creative process on Twitch before, but this was a special, instantaneous demonstration of his talents. While Louie spent the last 15 minutes of the performance structuring the song, the other four members on stage improvised chord patterns that collaboratively provided a groovy funk track in Louie’s signature style. Taking a bow, the ensemble closed the loop on the concert with the same song they began with: Carmen’s “Habanera.”
