Livingston

Article by: Brittany Ormiston

The crowd was whisked to a world between reality and fiction as white lights swirled amongst the fog. “You waited your whole life to be free of your youth // But now you want it back,” echoed through the speakers. With an unblemished transition into ‘Half Life,’ Livingston took to the stage and stepped up on a platform to be seen from every angle in the venue. He hit the ground running with the crowd right alongside him as they finished the lyrics during ‘Surprise!’ The NF-esque fusion of hard rock and rap was shocking in the best way. While channeling his inner conductor, Livingston revealed his wide vocal range during ‘Warrior’ and ‘Neon.’ He stood on the barricade, and let emotions pour out of him as the crowd stood captivated by him. 

He shared the backstory of ‘Fairytale’ before delivering an exquisite performance on the piano. He wrote this track about Pixar characters, and was excited to tell his Mom all about it once it was complete. “What happened to the stories I was told?” lyric in the chorus hit deep within, and had many reminiscing about their childhood and the notion of innocence. ‘Look Mom I Can Fly’ was along the same wavelength with the child-like voices during the chorus, and the instrumentation taking you beyond the clouds. This track could easily be added to the soundtrack of a live-version of Peter Pan without a doubt. Livingston picked up the pace again with ‘Architect’ as yellow lights beamed into the crowd. The adrenaline surge continued with an unreleased track ‘Brainstorm.’ The heavy drums and doom-filled vocals simulated being amidst the eye of a hurricane, stuck inside your own head with no way out. After witnessing this and another unreleased track, ‘Haunt Me,’ Livingston’s new era is looking ravishing. 

During ‘Last Man Standing,’ the crowd formed a path from the stage to the back of the venue as Livingston walked up and down it for a little sing-a-long. At various points, he raised his microphone into the air for the crowd to join in. The volume was off the charts to the point of feeling the lyrics down to the depth of your soul. After returning to the stage, Livingston wrapped up the evening with his most-streamed song ‘Shadow.’ The intense bass and his confidence emitting from the stage had us all streaming the song on the way home that evening. At an early age, Livingston began putting words to paper to express how he was feeling and a way to escape his anxiety. Now he gets to live out his dream of “opening his eyes and seeing everyone standing in front of him to process all our fears together.” Livingston is a force to be reckoned with amongst the alt-pop world, and he is taking his talent to infinity and beyond.         

Deluxe of Old National Centre in Indianapolis, IN on November 11, 2024

Photos by Everly Ormiston