APRIL 24, 2025 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | By Maya Rosen (Staff Writer)
In an era of skyrocketing concert ticket prices and low-energy headliner controversies, it is rare to find an artist free from the curse of ever-rising live performance expectations. Fans might spend up to $500 on a single night event and are then subjected to lip-synced performances. Remi Wolf, however, will never fall victim to the ‘lazy performer’ epidemic. Her latest concert confirmed her status as an undeniable vocal powerhouse. While her voice could have carried the concert alone, her incredible stage presence and unique sense of humor carried it over the edge. She brought the energy live music needs, and did the difficult tasks of radiating it out to a sold-out Red Rocks Park Amphitheater on April 10.
Wolf got her start on American Idol as a high school student in 2014, and you know it from the first note she sings. She has also spent her career opening for major tours, including Halsey’s Love and Power Tour (2022), Lorde’s Solar Power Tour (2023) and the European Leg of Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts Tour (2024). It seems her time opening for huge crowds has prepared her for the exact set of skills needed to bring the house down at any venue.
The concert was opened by South African musician and singer Alice Phoebe Lou, who sang stripped-down ballads accompanied by herself on electric guitar. It was a nice ease into the 90-minute marathon we were in for when Remi took the stage.
Wolf opened the concert with a dynamic rendition of “Cherries and Cream” from her latest album, Big Ideas (2024). She then transitioned into a unique exercise: a set of insane vocal drills, performed call and response style with the audience. As the drills got progressively more challenging, they frequently shifted genres from a powerful rock growl to an operatic trill. It was incredible to witness, even more so when accompanied by a dissonant chorus of audience attempts.
Wolf continued to keep energy high throughout the concert, playing a strong mix of new and old, popular hits and fan favorites. All songs featured insanely difficult notes and riffs belted out, expanding far beyond the towering red sandstone. Her energetic performance had nearly every fan standing on their seats dancing. If energy in the crowd ever lowered, she found a way to raise it, even at times through directly instructing the crowd through a set of dance moves. At one point she improvised a song, live on stage, using audience-suggested prompts, designing an entirely new single using the words “Lipstick,” “Honeybun” and “Grilled Cheese.”
This seems to be a concert staple of Wolf’s, and I can confirm after scouring the internet for clips from the rest of the tour, very little of it has been reused, down to even the backing track of her band.
Innovation like this is exactly what live music is needing. Rising concert prices, and rising payoff to match it. As she closed down the night with her hit single “Photo ID,” it was clear she had given all her energy left to give. Yet, she would again for two more nights. If she hadn’t had the crowd on their feet all night already, it surely would have been a standing ovation.
