Live Review: Dora Jar - Lafayette, London 17/03/2022
“An ode to the elves” — a surreal night to the blissful sound of alt-pop star in the making Dora Jar at London’s Lafayette.
This Thursday night, one of London’s new hotspots for live music, Lafayette, had the rare honour of partaking in an almost surreal experience full of incredible performances featuring catchy tunes, loads of jumping around, a story about a scab shaped as Hawaii, and an ode to the elves — yep, you read that right.
As odd as it sounds, I swear it was one of those nights where the crowd invited and absorbed the controlled and beautiful chaos every single one of the performers brought on stage… and somehow, it made perfect sense!
BELOT
It is rare that a room is as hyped about the support acts as Lafayette was in this occasion. More often than not, a venue is nowhere near full when openers Tiberious and Belot hit the stage, however, the place was packed from the very beginning, and with reason. Both openers were mind-blowing for different reasons yet together all three acts made for an incredibly well curated evening. Tiberious took us on a journey that started in etherial valleys of indie pop and climaxed in the far end of hyperpop-land which made the audience go wild. At the same time, Belot blew our minds with captivating and relatable lyrics that were only outperformed by their impeccable and mesmerising guitar solos which were just out of this world.
TIBERIOUS
Speaking of that… there’s no better way to describe the headliner Dora Jar than to say she is just a force from another world, a brilliant and playful creative mind that’s certainly making a dent in the music industry. Everything about her set was so strange yet so intentionally thought of that by the end of it, the confusion that the audience might have had was supplanted by collective genuine excitement for what lays ahead in this young artist’s journey.
Opening with (a recording of) “The Hills are Alive” from The Sound Of Music — yep, again, you read that right — the stage went dark, and the thrown off crowd was singing in unison to this theatrical rendition the evergreen. All of a sudden, the playback was interrupted and Dora Jar came on stage rocking layers on layers of really cool looking neon fits that can only be described as a Gen Z rag doll outfit. — On a random sidetone, I can guarantee everyone present had at least one “she’s so cool, I wanna be her” moment, and for me, this was it.
The second she took the stage while singing “Opening", it became clear why Dora is one of the most exciting performers of her generation. From her naturally-eclectic dance moves to her demeanour to the way that she immediately went from one side of the stage to the other making eye contact, sharing the mic with fans and chatting with them. It is almost unbelievable to think that only 6 months ago, Dora was playing her first ever live show at London’s The Waiting Room, which was btw a remarkable first ever gig (and Billie Eilish, who was there that night, would agree and bring her to tour along soon after).
Blasting through songs from her newest EP “Comfortably in Pain”, and her previous body of work “Digital Meadow”, the relentless energy and spontaneous moves closely resemble other iconic perfumers including Mitski and Aurora. However there’s a particular reference that comes to mind once you really see the ease and the freedom Dora exudes…. Stevie Nicks — that’s right, the star in the making takes the characteristic gypsy energy from one of the greatest ever and puts her own edgy twist to it.
The banter with the crowd was also crazy good! Not only did she invite them to sing along and experience the music in their own way but she also shared stories about the making of the songs. Fans now know that “Scab Song” was written after the artist skipped school and got a scab shaped as Hawaii that inspired a whole creative process, they also came to find out that Dora’s magical secret to rock the stage are “elves”… as she explained, what if her body was a fairy creation populated by tiny elves that help it work — again, yes, that’s exactly what you just read.
DORA JAR
There was not a single second Dora didn’t entertain us that night. She did splits and jumped around while playing “Polly”, she kneeled to interact with fans to sing “Tiger Face", she took to the floor in the acoustic and more romantic songs like “Lagoon”, she charmingly played off technical difficulties after accidentally unplugging her guitar from enjoying her own music so much she bounced around from left to right forgetting there were cords in places, and she even taught us that “the pain of heartbreak is a tunnel taking you to an even bigger love”.
With exciting things on the pipeline, the independent artist has proven she’s a force to be reckoned with while taking her time flirting with different labels, fully aware of her own worth. We certainly haven’t seen Dora’s reach her full potential yet — but that’s because the world isn’t ready to handle that much greatness, however the 600+ people who were there on Thursday are certainly lucky to have witnessed a crumb of what she’s capable of.
Words by Nicole Otero
Photography by Sam Strutt
