Six hours before the doors opened for Katie Gavin’s sold-out show in the city, I arrived at The Opera House, greeted by an already formed line of three people, with jackets thrown over flowy skirts and t-shirts with Gavin’s face printed on. Braving the cold air of Toronto in December, each of us were bargaining for the opportunity to be in Gavin’s eyeline as she performed from her debut solo record, What A Relief. On this record, she blends indie pop and folk sounds to capture the feeling of nostalgia and longing while taking a noticeable inclination towards narrative songwriting. 

When the show finally started, the crowd was greeted by Gavin’s opener, Nana Adjoa, who also contributed to the engineering on What A Relief. Adjoa’s calm confidence had the crowd’s hearts racing in anticipation for what was to come. Her skillful guitar and keyboard playing brought her back to the stage multiple times throughout the show to accompany Gavin, the two of them often exchanging looks of admiration.

Since this was Gavin’s first solo tour, there was room on the setlist for the entirety of her new record, with the addition of an unexpected surprise guest and song. Toronto singer-songwriter Charlotte Cornfield joined the stage to sing Mitski’s vocal section on the song where they feature, “As Good As It Gets.” Cornfield’s low, folksy cadence added a new layer of depth to the emotionally-fueled track. Later in the set, Cornfield returned to the stage to sing her original song “In My Corner” with accompaniment from Gavin, who specifically requested this addition to the setlist for her Toronto show.

Gavin declared that the instrumentation on this tour was characterized by her desire to experiment without the pressures of perfection. While explaining this, she held a shruti box in her lap, which generated a droning noise during the reflective performance of “Sweet Abby Girl.” In addition to her standard guitar playing, Gavin also experimented with the keyboard on “Sanitized” and the fiddle for the performance of her song “The Baton.” Throughout the tour, fans have documented her improvement on her fiddle solo in which Gavin stands up to serenade the audience following the chorus. 

The grand finale of Gavin’s set was the performance of her first single on the record, “Aftertaste,” inspired by Gavin’s feelings towards someone in an audience. The lyrics, “You're the only reason I came here/You're the only reason I stayed here” resounded throughout the crowd while they echoed the words back towards the stage. As Gavin reached the bridge of the song, a disco ball suspended above her became illuminated by the stage lights, intensifying the romantic ambiance of The Opera House. Her performance left the crowd in a collective trance and filled me, and likely every other member of the audience, with a tangible sense of yearning as the enchanting night came to a close.