Laufey Concert Movie, Filmed at Hollywood Bowl With the LA Phil, Will Hit Cinemas in December
Laufey will hit the big screen in December, as a concert movie of her recent performance with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl is headed for a limited engagement in theaters.
“Laufey’s A Night at the Symphony: Hollywood Bowl” will reach cinemas and Imax screens beginning on Dec. 6, it was announced Wednesday by Trafalgar Releasing. Advance tickets go on sale Oct. 30 here.
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The film is directed by Sam Wrench, whose previous credit happens to be the most commercially successful concert film of all time: “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour.” That seems appropriate, as Laufey has named Swift as among her heroines, even though she sings a more traditional, deeply jazz- and standards-inflected style of music. (As Variety said in reviewing the concert, “Laufey very much has a Taylor Swift side to her, or at least a Keely Smith-meets-Swift side.”)
A teaser clip was released Wednesday that gives a 50-second taste of Laufey performing “From the Start,” complete with an overhead shot of the sold-out Hollywood Bowl chanting along with the “blah blah blah” aside in the song that inevitably invites a moment of audience participation.
Said the Icelandic-Chinese-American artist in a statement, “It’s always been a dream of mine to present my music with the LA Philharmonic. To be able to bring that concert to people way beyond L.A. and the Hollywood Bowl is so meaningful to me, especially as I come from so many different parts of the world, which have all played a part in inspiring my work and artistic journey.”
The singer’s August performance was covered by Variety in a review titled “Laufey Feels Like She Was Born to Play the Hollywood Bowl, With a Rapturously Received Pop/Jazz/Classical Set.” Our critic wrote, “Some are to the manor born; along those lines, Laufey is to the Bowl born. Her triumphant debut at the venue Wednesday night, with backing by a (Thomas) Wilkins-led LA Phil, seemed pre-ordained probably from the point she issued her first EP just three years ago. … Actually, headlining the Bowl this year for just one night felt kind of like an underplay. It sold out so instantaneously — and even the nosebleed-iest resale tickets were going for such a premium — that it seemed clear Laufey could have done a three-night stand.”
The concert included two sets, one consisting of Laufey with her band, followed by a second half that had the full LA Phil joining her on stage.
Trafalgar Releasing handled the international release of the Swift concert film last year, and has been responsible for the domestic or global release of live performance movies by such artists as Beyoncé, BTS, Metallica, Coldplay and Billie Eilish.
The film was produced by Veeps Studios with Max Gredinger, Bianca Bhagat, Devin Dehaven, Kyle Heller, Michael Schneider and Jessica Roulston.
The tour that brought Laufey to the Bowl was in support of her 2023 sophomore album, “Bewitched,” which debuted atop the jazz album chart and won her the Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album earlier this year.
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