Tiffany Day Brings The Renewal Tour to San Francisco
by Sylvie Lam | photographed on April 1, 2022
As the sun set on San Francisco’s Castro district, colorful lights illuminated the inside of Cafe Du Nord, where fans excitedly waited for indie pop artists Tiffany Day and FIG to take the stage.
I was invited backstage for a quick chat with Tiffany Day before her performance. From selling out three out of four shows on her first headlining tour, being a senior in college graduating in a month, to going through a breakup in the middle of her tour, she reflects on the East Coast leg of her tour with gratitude. She sees touring as “a really good distraction, just knowing that I have to focus on myself, my career, and my tour.”
Despite all the pressure, “seeing everyone in the crowd, hearing everyone yell all the words to all my songs, and just being able to share the energy in the room together always feels really good.” Day smiles as she describes how the tour has allowed her to see the “impact my music actually makes on people,” with heartwarming handwritten letters moving her to tears. One fan in New York got her signature tattooed, which became a core tour memory.
While Tiffany prepared for her performance, FIG took the stage to kick off the night. From upbeat “Raspberry Tongue” to smooth “You’re Kinda Perfect,” FIG captivated the cafe’s audience with her melodic vocals, fun dance moves, and contagious smile. As FIG finished her set and the blue stage lights dimmed, fans waited in anticipation for Tiffany Day’s entrance.
Then, the whole room went pitch black. Everyone started chanting, “Tiffany! Tiffany! Tiffany!” Our chants were suspensefully silenced by the music which started to play. As the beat crescendoed, the lights came on, and Day ran onto the stage.
The audience roared in excitement as Day kicked off her set with “BITE BACK,” the second song off of her junior EP, THE RENEWAL PROJECT. No matter what song she performed, the audience energetically jumped up and down, yelling out every lyric to songs like “COMMITMENT ISSUES” from her 2020 debut EP I’M ALIVE, and “CLOUDS,” one of her favorites from her most recent project.
With mini storytimes introducing her next song, she told the audience about the events that inspired her music. As the first notes for “Gonna Be Okay” started to play, I thought back to our conversation before the show.
Although Day believes that it has been the most important and stressful time in her life, “I’m still here, and I’m still standing, and I’m very proud of myself for it.” With a lot going on professionally and personally, something Day is working on is reminding herself that “no matter what happens, no matter how heartbroken, or stressed, or anxious I may feel, I will be okay in the end, and I just have to have faith that I will be okay.” Despite “Gonna Be Okay” releasing two years ago, its message is still relevant and meaningful to Day, others around the room, and many more around the world.
Towards the middle of her set, she played two unreleased songs she looked forward to singing: “Santa Cruz,” which is “fun cause it’s so grungy and there’s a lot of dark energy,” and “Dear Ethan,” a song about her breakup which happened five days ago.
Although it seemed risky for her to perform a song she wrote two days ago for a live audience for the first time, she felt compelled to “share the raw energy of heartbreak with everyone in the crowd because I know the majority of people standing down there have been through the same things, and I feel like it’s an opportunity me to heal alongside everyone else.” It was the only song off of Day’s whole set that was solely herself and Yolk, her baby yellow electric guitar. The raw emotion and relatable lyrics had the whole audience in their feels, even moving some to tears.
Day wrapped up the night with old favorites like “YOU’RE SO FUCKING MEAN TO ME” and new favorites like “BROKEN PLATES.” As the night came to an end with “SPOILED BITCH,” fans demanded an encore after Day left the stage, to which she delivered with “CALONE,” officially closing the third stop of her first headlining tour.
Tiffany Day backstage before the show
Tour drummer Ross Murakami
Pictured: Opener FIG
