Maya Hawke, besides having cinematic parents like Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, and having an outbursting career as an actress in TV series Stranger Things or teen dramas like Do Revenge, is a talented singer-songwriter.
Her alternative-indie genre and intimate storytelling reminisces the style of the artists she considers her inspirers like Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith and Joni Mitchell.
Ever since her music debut in 2020, Hawke’s shows were supported by band members Benjamin Lazar Davis, Tōth, Will Graefe and Nick Cianci.
Currently the full-fledged artist has embarked upon a European and American tour with a first stop in Italy’s Northern metropolis of Milan, precisely during the glamorous Fashion Week. The concert took place on February 25th at Santeria Toscana 31. This iconic venue has become the favourite spot for international artists and is a unique model that blends entertainment, business, cultural and recreational purposes, for the whole city.
Hawke’s concert was sold out in no time and was packed with fans who sung every line of her poetic lyrics.
The opening act was held by another singer-songwriter from the United States: Alaska Reid. The musician from Montana set the atmosphere that introduced the live performances of Maya Hawke and her band.
The Italian gig covered some of Hawke’s most popular songs such as To Love A Boy, Bloomed Into Blue, Hiatus and Luna Moth. The performance artist held the stage with suave elegance, a mixture of timidity and boldness. Her husky voice, melodious like a nightingale, entranced listeners as the airy quality of her singing crooned with delicacy one song after the next.
Her lyrics encapsulate profound issues of our society that are transformed into modern fairytales, such as Mermaid Bar, about a girl who tries to end her life by jumping into the Hudson River and transforms into a mermaid. Throughout the performance Hawke shared personal moments of her life that represented epiphanies that she conveyed in her writing. One example is when she broke both her arms and her mother noticed one of them wasn’t healing properly and a doctor had to readjust the bone which caused great pain to Hawke, but even more to Uma Thurman who was witnessing the circumstance. A mother’s pain and unconditional love for her child is what inspired the song Sweet Tooth.
The Stranger Things actress encouraged the young spectators attending to preserve what they wrote in youth, as she did with a poem that she penned in high school that eventually became the song Generous Heart. Hawke also shared how she often felt in awe of college students, since she never attended university, and how this feeling of potentially missing out inspired her new song. This is the ultimate example of how Maya Hawke’s repertoire is an experiential work, where music and versification fuse into one, to tell a personal story that any listener can identify with.
The show culminated with an Italian flag that Maya Hawke wrapped herself into, to tribute the first country on her international tour. The minimalist acoustics, her diaristic lyricism and smoky soprano voice truly provided a mood of blithesome self-reflection.
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Here are the full dates and locations of Maya Hawke’s Tour:
February 25th Milan, Italy
February 27th Berlin, Germany
February 28th Hamburg, Germany
March 1st Cologne, Germany
March 3rd Amsterdam, Netherlands
March 4th Paris, France
March 6th London, United Kingdom
March 7th London, United Kingdom
March 12th Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
March 13th Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
March 15th Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
March 16th Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
March 18th Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
March 19th Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.