Attending Steve Lacy’s oh yeah? Tour Was Four Years In The Making
I first listened to Steve Lacy’s 2015 hit single “C U Girl” in 8th grade. Although I was only 13 and knew little about missing a partner or going on tour, I was mesmerized by the song’s groovy beat and memorable lyrics because the sound was different from anything I’d heard up until that point. To this day, I still credit this song for setting the precedent for my current music taste.
I’ve remained a fan of Lacy’s work over the years. Even after nearly a decade since their original releases, songs like “Dark Red,” “Ryd,” and “Some” are staples in my Spotify playlists. Lacy’s music has been part of the soundtrack to my adolescence, powering me through even the most difficult periods of my life. His music played in my AirPods as I rode the bus to volleyball games in high school; blasted out of the car on drives around town with my friends; and echoed in my room in my childhood home during quarantine.
In 2022, when Lacy announced the tour for his album, Gemini Rights, my friends and I planned to purchase last-minute tickets to the Boston show. The album dominated my senior year, and I was eager to see him perform it live. Unfortunately, my friends and I failed to secure tickets that year. While devastating, I promised myself that the next time he toured, I would be there.
Four years later, I’d finally won the Ticketmaster war. But this time, instead of attending his Boston show, I’d be seeing him 400 miles away in Washington, D.C., where I’d be spending the fall semester of my senior year of college — my first time away from home.
When I arrived at the venue, I made my way to the floor and could already feel the crowd’s rising excitement before Lacy’s imminent arrival to the stage. When the lights went down, everyone cheered, and the instrumentals for the title track to his newest album, oh yeah? began to play. Lacy appeared through a cloud of smoke and kicked off the show.
The concert lasted about two and a half hours and chronicled 34 songs from his discography. Lacy said it was his longest touring setlist to date. While the first half of the show consisted of songs from oh yeah?, the second half was composed of previous work: his EP, Steve Lacy’s Demo, and his albums Apollo XXI, The Lo-Fis, and Gemini Rights.
At one point during the show, Lacy and his band performed the extended instrumentals to his song “doom” for over 5 minutes, which featured electrifying guitar solos from him and his guitarist.
About halfway through the set, Lacy took song requests from fans. Dozens of people typed various titles of their favorite tracks on their phones and raised them in the air. I enjoyed the interactive element of the show because it represented a mutual appreciation between an artist and their fans, which doesn’t happen at every concert. The crowd dug deep into Lacy’s discography, exhibiting recognition for songs that didn’t make the setlist. Lacy took as many recommendations as he could, including shortened versions of “I Think I Should” and “Lay Me Down” (incredible choices, by the way).
Later in the show, Lacy covered The Smiths’ “This Night Has Opened My Eyes,” featuring a beautiful showcasing of blue-ish-purple stage lighting that reflected the mood of the song. He even performed “Helmet” with “Steve Lacy” — a fan from the audience dressed as his persona from the “Bad Habit” music video — which had everyone in the venue laughing. Towards the end of the show, Lacy and his band performed a GoGo version of “Bad Habit,” a music genre created in D.C. in the ’60s and ’70s that combines elements from other genres like funk and soul.
Although my favorite moment of the night had to be the performance of “C U Girl.” The second the band started the song, the energy of the crowd swelled in recognition of the melody; we relished in the nostalgia of Lacy’s first single. You better believe that when it came time to sing the iconic lyric: “But you’re in college now and I’m about to go on tour,” I put all my heart into it, because it felt more personal to me now. I’m in college! And I’m seeing Steve Lacy on tour! A true full-circle moment.
To end the show, Lacy played “oh yeah?,” one more time; a wistful and bittersweet track and a perfect way to end a 34-song setlist. Warm, pink lighting engulfed the stage. The crowd sang and waved their hands back and forth through the air. I felt a deep connection to the audience and the music — it was a moment of pure joy and community, which is exactly what music should do.
On October 21st, 2026, Steve Lacy appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show. He told Drew that “oh yeah?” exemplifies “the loneliness that comes with growing up, you know, you kind of look around and you realize, where do all these people go? And it’s about staying open to meeting new people or open to spending more time with yourself or connecting with people differently.”
I resonate with this deeply. In fact, after the show, I felt quite emotional and found myself reflecting on being so far from home and from the person I was when I first discovered “C U Girl”. Music and live performance translate universal feelings to sound and movement, which can be liberating for both artists and fans. It’s comforting to know that the oddity of growing up is a shared experience for many young adults navigating the world.
Ultimately, this concert was a cathartic experience for me. It felt like a checkpoint in a long personal journey that I embarked on eight years ago in my hometown, shuffling through Lacy’s early discography, unaware of where life would take me.
