NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
Exactly one month after she released her debut studio album “All I Ever Want is Everything”, Blu DeTiger stopped at the Velvet Underground in Toronto as part of the tour to support new new record. This amazing performer, named one of the “30 under 30: Music” people to watch in 2022, she has spread her wings from older bass for hire days into an in-demand solo artist. Fans were lined up early to see their “bass queen” live in Toronto for the first time since she played the Axis Club in 2022. We covered that show (here) and were looking forward to see thumping live show again.
On this tour, there are a number of different opening acts. For the Toronto show, it was a DJ set by….hmmm…it’s not clear to me if the duo’s name is Indie Sleaze (btw, I’d swear that was Steve Aoki on the right but it’s not, I think), if it’s just the name of their instagram or if it’s just a vibe and fashion statement. Either way, it was a fun set that got the crowd moving very quickly. A few girls in front were singing along and dancing to just about everything that Indie Sleaze threw at them!
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“Intro” from Blu DeTiger’s new record was indeed the intro to her set as she, drummer (and brother) Rex DeTiger, and guitarist Donnie Laudicina took the stage. Blu’s vibe is so much fun and engaging that you immediately feel like you’re in a nightclub and the jam is about to start. The first four songs of the the set were all from her new album. In fact, if you were looking for her to play a lot of older stuff, you would be disappointed since only four of the songs in the seventeen song set were not from “All I Ever Want is Everything”. One of those songs, however, is “Vintage” which is still my favorite track. One of the highlights (at least for me) this evening was “Imposter Syndrome” performed solo…just Blu’s voice and bass. During the show, Blu did have to re-adjust her mic repeatedly. Unfortunately, I realized that there was a bass track that was also being played during the live performance. One of the best things about Blu DeTiger is her amazing bass playing so I’m hoping that was just an occasional underlying bassline. As she gets more popular, I understand there’s a need to use her hands more and pump up the crowd. That being said, I love those dance tracks with a heavy bass, like “Latency”, where you really get to see her hands move across the bass guitar. How could you not be bopping to that?
Playing her full album, it’s amazing that, one month into its release, just about everyone at the venue could sing along to the songs. The loudest sing-alongs were still to “Cotton Candy Lemonade” and “Figure It Out” because, of course, everyone alsolutely knows the lyrics to those. The party atmosphere was in full swing all night and I’m not sure I understand why Blu DeTiger is not playing larger venues. I will continue to track this artist and looking forward to catching her at Danforth Music Hall or History next time around!
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