¿TÉO? “SOL & LUNA” TOUR IN TORONTO

BY BRENESSA ROACH | MARCH 19 2023

On March 15th, Colombian-American singer Mateo Arias, known by his artist name ¿Téo? played his first headline concert at the Velvet Underground in Toronto. This was the 11th stop on his 18 city North American “Sol & Luna” Headline tour. For this show, ¿Téo? was accompanied on stage by his lovely band and had opening performances from Maesu and Edwin Raphael.

This was my first time visiting the Velvet Underground and I enjoyed it. The venue’s capacity is around 350 people (standing) and this show was completely sold out. The venue is quite small, but it makes concerts more enjoyable and intimate as you can be closer to the artist.

The night started off with an opening performance by Montreal based indie-folk singer, Edwin Raphael accompanied by his guitarist. Edwin’s set was about 20 minutes and he performed a few of his songs from his latest album Warm Terracotta which was released on February 17th. My favourite performance was his third song “Contours of Spring”. Edwin was super engaging with the crowd and his transitions between songs were strong. Although his songs are on the slower side, the audience were still vibing and enjoying his music.

Check out Edwin Raphael’s Spotify page:

Check out Edwin Raphael on Instagram: @edwinrphl

More photos of Edwin Raphael:

Next up to perform was Maesu, an American alt-pop, R&B, hip-hop singer. Prior to the concert, I had never listened to his music so I didn’t know what to expect. However, he was amazing on stage! He was dancing and engaging with the crowd so much. Everyone was having a lovely time and even singing the lyrics back to him when he asked. This concert was also his first time being in Canada so, the sold out show made it even more special for him. At the time of the concert, Maesu’s newest song “Protection (CALL 444)” was not out yet, but he performed it and it was a really good song. The song is now out and you definitely should listen to it.

Check out Maesu’s Spotify page:

Check out Maesu on Instagram: @maesumaesu

More photos of Maesu:

¿Téo?’s performance started at 9:30 and it was amazing! He was so engaging with the crowd and his band. Additionally, he was running around on stage and making sure he went to each side of the stage to interact with the audience. There were so many fans jumping around and screaming to every song and it seemed like everyone was having an amazing time.

It was the birthday of the keyboardist Blanda so ¿Téo? and the band took a shot to celebrate and it was such a wholesome moment on stage. ¿Téo? performed a lot of songs from his Sol album which was released in June 2021. In the second half of his set, he performed songs from his upcoming album Luna. This part of the concert was so fun because he treated it like a listening party or as he described “sitting in the living room” while we listen to all these songs.

¿Téo? said that the Sol (sun) album is 12 songs and Luna (moon) is also 12 songs, so together the 24 songs represent 24 hours in a day – this really stuck with me because I love when an artist has connecting albums with a deep meaning. ¿Téo? also said that the colours of these two albums are blue and purple.

Overall, I enjoyed the show a lot and left the concert as a fan of not only ¿Téo?, but Maesu and Edwin. I also got to meet Maesu and Edwin and they were extremely nice.

Special thanks to Edwin Raphael and his team for inviting me out to cover the show and getting me on the guest list as media.

Check out ¿Téo?’s Spotify page: