Troye Sivan brought a celebration to the Tower Theater. His Bloom Tour, in support of an album with the same name, hit Philadelphia this past Saturday and it was a celebration of the LGBTQ community from start to finish.
His two openers, Leland and Kim Petras, gave the show a strong start. Leland is a gay songwriter who has written with pop stars like Selena Gomez, Daya and Troye Sivan. He kicked off the night, performing his own songs like “Mattress” and “Lights,” the latter of which is featured in the new Netflix film “Sierra Burgess is a Loser.” His performance was a fun start to the night as he danced around on stage while singing.
Kim Petras is a transgender pop singer from Germany. She gave an energetic performance for an adoring crowd. I had never heard of her, but it was obvious that many people in the crowd knew her well. Her music was extremely catchy and I found myself somehow singing along by the end of most tracks. She performed her singles as well as a couple tracks from her new Halloween Mixtape “Turn Off The Light, Vol. 1.”
Petras had a strong stage presence and was great at connecting with the audience. Her overall aesthetic really reminded me of Charli XCX, who she collaborated with on XCX’s “Pop 2” mixtape. It’s great to see a transgender pop singer so welcomed by an audience. With her command of the stage and catchy hooks, I’m sure we will be seeing more of her soon.
When it was Troye Sivan’s chance to take the stage, the crowd’s anticipation was palpable. Though they had enjoyed the openers, Sivan was who they were here to see. The lights in the room dimmed and a small portion of the curtain raised for Sivan to slip through. He started his set with the song “Seventeen,” which also opens the album. His voice crooned the slow jam, capturing all the emotion and reflection packed into the lyrics.
He immediately kicked up the energy, transitioning into “Bloom.” The bottoming bop caused the crowd’s energy to explode. Everyone was dancing and singing along. The room was full of love and positive energy.
Sivan gave a great performance. His vocals were strong and his undulating body movements were mesmerizing and slyly seductive. He also expertly dealt with technical difficulties. During the song “Fools,” something was going wrong with the track. He had to stop the song in the middle, and he quickly brushed it off with a joke and moved on to album standout “Lucky Strike.” Later in the show he made it up to the crowd by giving the first performance of his new collaboration with Charli XCX, “1999.”
Troye Sivan also seemed to be a fan of Philadelphia. He called our stomping ground “one of the prettiest cities.” He and his team had been in the city for two days before the show. He had a chance to explore the city and even went out dancing at Woody’s in the Gayborhood.
Halfway into the show, Sivan came up from the depths of the set on a couch with living room lamp lighting. This set change set the mood for the next section of the show which highlighted the slower parts of his catalogue. He dueted with his backup singer for a stunning performance of “Postcard.”
Troye Sivan was a great performer and great at engaging the audience. Before performing his final song he said “Can you guys all say the word my? Can you say it three times?” This funny line led into his song “My My My!” It was a great closer to the show, full of energy and climaxing in a rave-ready remix of the track.
The Bloom tour was an entertaining show and a strong argument for letting queer musicians have a bigger voice in the industry. All three acts put on great performances from start to finish. I hope to see all of them coming back to perform in Philly soon.