Eliza McLamb delivers an intimate Halloween show in Syracuse

The last concert Maeve Brownell, 27, attended was a Chappell Roan concert this past May. “She was in Buffalo, and I got the tickets for $40, and then I think she played Coachella, and then they skyrocketed to 220, and I was like, I secured this,” said Brownell. 

It is rare to see an artist live before they “make it big.” In a year or two, Eliza McLamb’s Halloween concert attendees could very well hold the same bragging rights.

On Halloween night, McLamb, 23, performed as part of her “Anything You Want (And More)” tour at The Song and Dance in downtown Syracuse. Before the show, Spencer Peppet, a member of the opening band The Ophelias, trimmed the bangs on McLamb’s red wig (she and her band dressed as the Scooby-Doo gang, with McLamb dressed as Daphne).

“I’m very cognizant of the fact that this is probably the first stop, like a pre-game almost for the night. And I’m very honored to occupy that spot,” said McLamb.

The show comes at the tail-end of an exciting year for McLamb, who released her first LP “Going Through It” in January. 

“The title is the double meaning of ‘going through it’ as in the colloquial term of ‘Oh, wow, she’s really going through it,’ as in she’s having a tough time, or ‘I’m going through it’ as in going through an archive,” said McLamb. “In the colloquialism of ‘going through it,’ as in having a hard time, I have actually been having a great time for the last year.”

An eclectic mix of costumed attendees filled the audience, ranging from fans who knew every word to boyfriends accompanying their girlfriends, heads nodding along to the music.

Solo concertgoers were not uncommon at the show, including Brownell, who took the train from Buffalo to attend. “So many people go to the shows alone and come away with friends. So many people would come up to me and be like, ‘Oh, we met at the last Eliza show,’” said McLamb.

Watching McLamb perform felt like watching a bona fide rockstar, her red wig and green necktie along for the ride as her body gave into the music. It’s hard to apply a genre to her work, moving from pop-rock songs about being a woman in 2024 (“Modern Woman”) to tender indie odes to friendship from 2022 (“Salt Circle”). 

Regardless of genre, it works, as fan Stacy Cunningham, 22, said. “I think she has a really soft timbre to her voice that’s really soothing. And it’s interesting because I think there’s a contrast between the soothing quality to her voice and the really heavy subject matter that she sings about,” said Cunningham. “It’s unique to her and her music.”

Fans in the audience knew McLamb through various forms of media. Her podcast, Binchtopia, has 10,582 paying members on Patreon, and her Substack “words from eliza” has 19,000 subscribers. McLamb has spoken about her niche fame at length but noted a recent difference in fans’ behavior. 

“I’ve actually noticed a positive difference in that where people are being more aware, almost to the point where I’m like, ‘I’m not mad at you, you’re not in trouble, thank you for coming.’ If I’m standing out here, it’s because I want to meet you and I’m happy to be here,” said McLamb.

When asked about new music, McLamb couldn’t share anything specific, but gave the audience a sneak peek of what’s coming with new tracks “Like the Boys” and “Forever Like That.” The tracks fit right into McLamb’s oeuvre, an upbeat sound masking lyrics describing a yearning for things she can never have, like the preservation of a moment in time.

“A linear understanding of time never really made sense for me. I feel that time travel is what happens when you remember something really vividly,” said McLamb. “So in that sense, it just permeates the way that I live my life.”

The evening ended with the most popular song on Going Through It, (“Mythologize Me,” which has over one million streams on Spotify), but the intimate nature of the penultimate song “Older” carried as the crowd left the venue. It could be Halloween magic, or it could be the energy of a crowd devoted to the artist on stage. Either way, McLamb felt it. 

“I have not gotten to really soak in the wonders of Syracuse, but I know that they’re out there, and I can feel the energy, even from in this basement,” said McLamb.