Dora Jar at Cafe 939, 11/10/22
Dora Jar, a fairy or a musician? Jar, who you may not be entirely familiar with if you don’t fall into the category of young and quirky college student, has a very ethereal sense about her; this is seen in her eclectic style of makeup, album cover art, and the type of music she produces. She integrates various made-up phrases that resemble the fantasy world of wizards and fairies, which highly appeals to her "indie" and "fairycore" audience members. Jar's music can be described as somewhere between "Faye Webster and St. Vincent". Many of Jar's songs are inspired by folk-rock ("Multiply"), bedroom pop ("Polly"), and R&B ("Wizard"). In the past, Dora Jar opened for Billie Eilish on the Happier Than Ever Tour, where she must have perfected her performance and audience engagement skills as she actively kept the room's attention.
After attending Jar’s concert at Cafe 939 on November 10th, I suggest everyone familiarize themselves with her music! Cafe 939 was sold out, and people filled the entire room. The fact that Cafe 939 is such an intimate venue, didn’t seem to stop Dora, as her energy bounced off the walls and was felt by everyone in attendance.
At the beginning of the show, Dora mentioned that she felt under the weather and apologized for not being able to be the most entertaining performer; however, I think the audience would unanimously agree that her energy was not affected, and that her performance was just as fun and engaging as listening to her recorded music. The audience sang, danced, and rejoiced in Jar’s bedroom pop-esque music. Due to Cafe 939 being an intimate venue, it was easy for Jar to interact with the audience often. She often interacted with people taking videos by getting close to the camera or focusing on that audience member. She also liked to connect with audience members in the front by reaching out or mirroring their dance moves. One of my favorite interactions was when Dora performed her song “Lagoon”; she changed outfits as the vibe of the music changed to a slower-paced, more relaxed vibe. The audience played into her energy by shouting and supporting her. She then focused on a single person’s camera, got close to their phone, and played off the audience member’s energy.
She often danced across the stage in a bubbly, 'feeling the music' way. She also had wardrobe changes, as she would remove certain elements to reveal other elements of the outfit. As someone who wasn't extremely familiar with her music before the show, I almost expected to hear repetitive or similar songs in such a long set, but the diversity of the 17- song setlist definitely contributed to the active engagement of the audience. The fan-favorite song "Multiply" was played second to last in the set, to which the crowd was immediately energized and eager to hear more as she closed out the set with another top hit titled "Polly". After this ethereal performance, I can't decide whether Dora Jar is a fairy, musician, or both.
