Thuy Makes a Stunning Return to the Bay, Inspires the ‘Most Wholesome Mosh Pit Ever’

With silky vocals, Bay Area throwbacks and a surprise P-Lo feature, Thuy’s first headlining performance at San Francisco’s Warfield Theater solidified her as a rising R&B darling.

Throughout the evening on Saturday, Dec. 16, the Bay Area-born-and-raised singer — she grew up belting Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera lyrics in her garage in the East Bay town of Newark — delivered sparkling stage presence and powerful melodies. The sold-out crowd responded in kind, roaring Thuy’s lyrics back at her all night.

Both of Thuy’s EPs, 2021’s I Hope U See This, and her follow-up, 2022’s Girls Like Me Don’t Cry, have garnered national attention. But this was a hometown party from the jump: Ahead of Thuy’s set, DJ Cook Beats set the regional tone with Too Short’s “Blow the Whistle,” while opener ASTN got the crowd in a holiday mood with his cover of “Last Christmas” and then Thuy opened with her glossy, upbeat track “I Got It,” a fitting anthem about self-confidence for an artist on the rise who’s been open about her insecurities.

“I got to step out and be more confident and love my body,” she told the crowd to mass cheering.

Thuy also noted that the last time she was at the Warfield as an opener, she promised her team they’d be back as the headliner — and she manifested that in a big way.

Her community turned up to see it: the Bay Area’s pride for our own was the lifeblood of the show, which was also Thuy’s last performance of 2023. The crowd included Thuy’s actual uncles and aunties, as well as chosen family — plenty of her fellow local Millennials showed out.

One fan brought a South Vietnamese flag as a nod to Thuy’s heritage, which the artist pointed to mid-performance. “I want that flag up here!” she called out.

Thuy’s dad, in a gray wool blazer and an enormous smile, filmed the whole performance through his phone, repping proud immigrant dads everywhere. When Thuy asked the crowd if they were any “dog mommies and daddies,” her dad yelled back towards the stage, “I have a dog! I have a dog!”

In chunky silver hoops, a corset and mini skirt set and wooly black boots, Thuy shimmied through sultry tracks like “you should feel special” and “All Night Long.” But she also spent a fair amount of time in her bag, backdropped by visuals of swirly pink marbles and crystalline orchids.

“Even though I can be sassy, I’m a lover at heart,” she said.

At one point she asked everyone to turn their phone flashlights into a makeshift halo around a couple in the crowd as they looked lovingly into each other’s eyes. They slow-danced as she sang “cause you are my universe, my everything, my sunset” from her 2021 song “universe,” quite possibly moving even the Grinch-iest of hearts in the audience.

“I can’t believe I did the most wholesome mosh pit ever!” she laughed.

Thuy’s Bay Area upbringing continued to take center stage throughout the performance, with the help of surprise appearances by Berkeley rapper Rexx Life Raj, who’s been on three tracks with her over the last couple years, as well as Vallejo artist LaRussell. The crowd met each surprise guest with deafening approval, especially Pinole rapper P-Lo, who roused the crowd with his dependable hit “Put Me On Somethin.’”

Towards the end of her performance, Thuy sat on a barstool, heels dangling over the stage, to give a tearful monologue about her love for the Bay, her childhood and why she’s donating a portion of the concert’s proceeds to Toys for Tots.

“It’s about community and coming back to love,” she said. “And everytime I feel like I’ve lost myself, I know that when I come home here you guys always show me so much love.”