Live Review: Jordana at The Echo

It is a dream-like performance about nostalgia and a journey into the adult world.

Maryland-raised bedroom pop and indie rock singer Jordana graced the audience with an audaciously playful and dream-like performance at The Echo on the Friday evening of February 7^th, 2025. Located in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, The Echo was a perfect venue choice for Jordana’s Lively Premonition Tour – delivering the audience an intimate yet energetic live music experience filled with bittersweet nostalgia and hazy young adulthood memories. Jordana’s concert offered the audience both an incredible and rare opportunity to hear all of the songs from her newly released album Lively Premonition (2024) – her deeply personal retrospect on her journey into the world of adulthood.

For Jordana’s opening act, Canadian alternative and indie rock singer Rachel Bobbitt settled the mood with her slow-burning yet emotionally stirring performances. The opening act was intriguing since there were only two other band members to assist Rachel Bobbitt’s performance – one electronic guitarist and one multi-instrumentalist. But the absence of a drummer eloquently enhanced the emotionally evocative songs of Rachel Bobbitt. The performance of her 2022 single More was exceptional for this very reason – especially with her resonant vocals and intricate instrumentals.

After Rachel Bobbitt’s performance, Jordana fearlessly appeared on the stage along with her band. Despite jokingly assuring the audience about her persistent nervousness, the audience noticed Jordana’s soaring excitement to greet her fans in LA. When Jordana announced that she would perform all 10 of the songs from her Lively Premonition album, the crowd cheered enthusiastically.

Jordana, while gently playing her violin, began to sing the first song from her new album, We Get By – a song with Jordana’s playful take recounting her first love experience. Jordana’s refreshing vocals, assisted with her band’s instrumental harmony, vividly painted the magical landscape of her adolescence. It was as if Jordana was inviting us to a melancholic picnic, reliving her memories while allowing the audience to revisit their own as well.

The concert was then followed by other songs from Jordana’s new album, showcasing her energetic vocal skills and her genre-alternating musical talent (as she also played tambourine and electronic guitar during the set). The show’s highlight included her rhythmically alternating song Heart You Hold, her sentimental performance on the soft melodic pop song Anything for You, and her slow yet explosive performance of the last song of her new album Your Story’s End.

After Jordana performed all 10 songs from her Lively Premonition album, she teased the audience about her and her band returning home. As the crowd then chanted encore, Jordana performed the cover version of Steely Dan’s song Any Major Dude Will Tell You – maintaining both the uplifting and sentimental tone of the concert. Jordana followed up with her “TV Girl Trilogy” with three fan-favorite songs from her hit collaboration album with indie pop band TV Girl Summer’s Over (2021). Jordana’s performance of Summer’s Over, Sweet to Dream, and Better in the Dark were all phenomenal choices to wrap up her tour night while evoking feverish summer melancholy from the audience.   

One of the most outstanding qualities of her concert was her contagious positive energy to the crowd – both during and after performing each of her songs. Even though the songs of her new album conversates about the fearful nature of growing up, her playful and optimistic stage mannerisms suggest to the audience that perhaps growing up and entering adulthood is not that scary after all. Needless to say, it was truly inspiring how a 24-year-old singer demonstrated her bold and audacious approach to her musical craft.

Encountering heartbreak and loss of your loved ones are inevitable parts of growing up. But Jordana’s performance at The Echo was a testament to the importance of holding onto your identity despite the harsh realities of such a part of the adult world. As Jordana performed in her third track of Lively Premonition, Heart You Hold perhaps suggests both to her and her fans…

“If you’re missing that little blue bird out your window
You’ll find it’s best to
Stop! Talking back to your elders and listening up
Jump! Like you’ve severed ties to the cabin floor
Run! While you can still carry all of the heart you hold
Hey! Grow into someone who you’ve never seen before…”

Setlist:

1. We Get By
2. Like A Dog
3. Heart You Hold
4. This Is How I Know
5. Multitudes Of Mystery
6. Raver Girl
7. Wrong Love
8. Anything For You
9. The One I Knew
10. Your Story’s End
11. Any Major Dude Will Tell You (Steely Dan Cover Song)
12. Summer’s Over
13. Sweet To Dream
14. Better In The Dark