SLIDESHOW: No lonely times at Carly Rae Jepsen album release show at the Greek
Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022. Karen Goldman/STAFF.
BERKELEY — Carly Rae Jepsen picked a good night to play the Greek on Friday.
Hours after dropping her new album, The Loneliest Time, the pop singer-songwriter played several of the newer songs at her show at the Greek Theatre.
Jepsen’s set was extensive, packing in more than two dozen tracks spanning the Canadian hitmaker’s catalog. She and her band played on a stage decorated with cloud formations—both on the stage floor and suspended from up above—and stars, as well as a large circular projection screen. The screen began as a moon (that spoke in Jepsen’s voice) while appeared first in a feathery purple outfit and later in the show in a shiny pants and blouse.
While she broke things up fairly evenly across her six-record catalog (she began with “This Love Isn’t Crazy” from Dedicated Side B) the majority of the material drew from 2015’s E-MO-TION, such as second song “Run Away With Me.” The new record also got its share of love, with the title track, folky and somewhat angry “Go Find Yourself or Whatever” and breakup jam “Talking to Yourself” (minus singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, who duets with Jepsen on record).
Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
The hits were sprinkled in through the set. Songs like “Run Away With Me,” “Cut to the Feeling” and “Call Me Maybe” (the latter from her breakout album, Kiss) arrived relatively early on in the night. Before “Boy Problems,” which came later in the show, she talked about her experiences on a dating app. While she’s had her share of hits, Jepsen has also managed to maintain her status as an indie darling. Of course, the lesser-known songs were just as catchy in Berkeley.
Singer-songwriter Lorely Rodridguez, better known as Empress Of, opened the show. The native Angeleno recently released a new EP, Save Me. Rodriguez got a fairly healthy length set for a support act, playing about a dozen songs in front of a set of mirror that reflected the crowd back at itself. Most of the material came from Save Me as well as 2020’s I’m Your Empress Of. She included a pair of covers, including Marina Diamandis’ “Man’s World” and Jim-E Stack’s “Note to Self.”
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Empress Of performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Empress Of performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Empress Of performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Empress Of performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
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- Empress Of performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2022.
— Mike DeWald
Follow photographer Karen Goldman at Twitter.com/Xposure120 and Instagram.com/XposureArts.