REVIEW: glaive with Tiffany Day @ Paradise Rock Club 9/30

Photo Credit: Ken Kohlmeier

Review by Michelle Leung

A glaive and Tiffany Day concert draws two distinct crowds: girls dressed in fur boots, lace skirts, and off-the-shoulder tops, and boys rocking jeans and simple tees. On Wednesday night, these college-aged crowds piled into Boston’s Paradise Rock Club, weaving as far forward as they could. 

As the venue lights dimmed and pink and white lasers began to flash, Day ran onstage, jumping and gesturing for the crowd to get hype. She didn’t need to, because the entire audience was absolutely raucous with shrieks and cheers already, rocking the walls at her appearance. Launching into “START OVER,” then “PRETTY4U,” Day jumped in a circle and threw her head from side to side. The infectious excitement moved the crowd, who treated Day’s set like a miniature rave as they frat-flicked and shouted the lyrics, exhilarated. Although Day barely smiled, embracing the tumultuous sentiments of her newest album, “HALO,” it was clear she had entered full performance mode, with a concentrated, endless energy radiating off her. 

“AMERICAN GIRL” was arguably one of the biggest hits of the night, as the crowd screamed in a call-and-response: “Because I’m all up in my head, I’m an American Girl / Don’t-don’t-don’t-don’t look like you yet, wanna be part of your world!” A quick transition led into another smash-hit, “LOOK UP,” with Day ad-libbing fervently in an almost anguished manner over the pulsing, addictive beat, even sinking to her knees onstage. 

“BOSTONNNN!” She yelled emphatically, and screams rose from the mass of jumping bodies thronging together. As she transitioned into the frantic, anxious “EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WANTED,” Day returned to a kneeling position, the action imploring the audience to immerse themselves within the song’s devastating emotional trajectory. Fans were enraptured, although she didn’t leave the floor until the next song. The distress on Day’s face was heartbreakingly evident, and she gripped her mic like a lifeline. Finishing off with “DOIT4ME,” the characteristic autotune altering her voice infused another electronic layer into the electropop tracks.

 When glaive took the stage, he began slowly with R&B-infused tracks “Spinning Around” and “UNCA / Composure” off his newest collaborative album with kurtains. Guitar-heavy backing tracks underscored his partial transition away from the hyperpop genre, highlighting glaive’s raw vocals. The crowd buzzed when songs from the 2025 album, “Y’all,” initiated a fresh wave of jumping. “We Don’t Leave the House” flaunted the steadiness of glaive’s singing even as he remained in constant motion, bouncing from one foot to the other.

A content smile lit up glaive’s face as he threw off his shirt, reinvigorated by the enthusiasm surrounding him during “Appalachia.” He continued to jump, and everyone followed, while blue stage lights flickered dizzyingly during “Asheville.” Even as glaive went further back into some 2024 hits, dedicated fans eagerly yelled out every single word, clearer than ever whenever the backing track quieted. Although lesser known, he also sprinkled in songs from his experimental side project under the artist name ovine hall, including the track “pardon me.”  

Before wrapping up with “Let’s Link Up and Die” from “God Save the Three,” glaive giddily presented snippets of two unreleased songs that will be featured in his upcoming album. 

“I’m really feeling the vibes,” glaive announced, and the audience howled and danced in a frenzied commotion. The night ended on a high with encore tracks “The Troubles” and “The Band” as the undisputed crowd-pleasers. 

From the moment Tiffany Day took the stage, the air was absolutely electric. Although her set ran only 30 minutes, everyone in the venue partied like she was a headliner. The indie folk that made up much of glaive’s setlist set a soothing atmosphere before ramping up with dance and garage-inspired elements. And although there seemed to be an initial disparity between their audiences, fans raved with Day and shouted glaive’s lyrics in tandem, stepping away with a deeper connection to hyperpop and the budding genres slowly branching out from it.