Charlie Puth’s Whatever’s Clever! Tour Kicks Off at Viejas Arena with Daniel Seavey & Ally Salort
Charlie Puth’s Whatever’s Clever! World Tour launched this spring to support his fourth studio album of the same name. And if the opening night in San Diego is any indication, the rest of the world had better be ready.
There’s something genuinely special about being in the room when a tour begins. Not just any night on the road, but night one — the night where none of the fans know exactly what lies in store for them. That electricity was palpable before a single note was played at Viejas Arena.
Before Puth ever set foot on stage, the crowd got two very good reasons to arrive early.
First up was Ally Salort, a singer-songwriter hailing from Maplewood, New Jersey, attending Columbia High School — the same hallways once walked by SZA and Lauryn Hill — before being discovered by producer Pop Wansel and competing in a talent search for Atlantic Records back in 2018. Rather than waiting around for a label to hand her a career, she did what smart artists do: she spent about two years posting weekly covers of top 40 artists on YouTube to build an organic following, until a rendition of Alexander 23’s “IDK You Yet” caught the right set of ears. She’s since become known for her emotionally candid R&B and singer/songwriter-infused alt-pop, releasing her debut EP Change of Plans in 2025.
On Wednesday night, Salort wasted no time transforming Viejas Arena into something warmer and more intimate than you’d expect from a 12,000-seat venue. One of her early songs, “We’re Not Friends,” started quietly before the atmosphere shifted — audience members began raising their phone flashlights, filling the arena with a soft, swaying glow. Salort also debuted an unreleased track called “Housekeeping,” giving the crowd a peek behind the curtain at where she’s headed.
Next came Daniel Seavey, and if you’ve only known him as a member of Why Don’t We, prepare to have your mind reoriented.
Seavey first showed up on the national radar as a contestant on Season 14 of American Idol in 2015, where he placed in the Top 9 — a remarkable feat for a 15-year-old kid from Vancouver, Washington who had spent his childhood busking at Portland art walks with his pastor dad and playing every secondhand instrument his parents could find. He went on to become a founding member of Why Don’t We, serving as the band’s primary producer and helping guide them to two Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 before the group went on hiatus in 2022.
Seavey the solo artist is a different, more dimensional artist. His set Wednesday night was confident, polished, and — most importantly — personal, with Seavey taking moments to highlight Charlie Puth’s influence on his own career and how surreal it was opening for one of his inspirations. It was immediately apparent how Seavey was influenced by Puth’s infinite knowledge and understanding of music, as he opened by creating an impressive loop of multiple instruments. The highlight was a built-from-scratch looped version of Justin Bieber’s One Less Lonely Girl, following up Bieber’s viral Coachella performance with a unique twist.
When Puth finally walked out, the arena erupted. He kicked things off with “Beat Yourself Up,” the new album’s second track and a kind of mission statement: give yourself a little grace. It was a disarmingly humble way to open a massive arena show, and it worked perfectly.
What became clear almost immediately was that Puth was not interested in giving the crowd a predictable highlight reel. He’s told interviewers he considers Whatever’s Clever! his “yacht rock 2026” record, and that old-school commitment to musicianship was evident everywhere — in his keyboard playing, in the way his excellent band locked in, in how little felt pre-programmed or coasted through. Songs breathed, letting keyboard solos and the artistry of the music truly shine. In an era when pop acts sometimes treat live shows like a karaoke backdrop, watching Puth truly play was a breath of fresh air
The setlist dug deep in all the right places, mixing the crowd-pleasing catalog — “Attention,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” “How Long,” “Cheating on You” — with deep cuts from Voicenotes that clearly meant a lot to the people who’d been fans long before the algorithm caught up. And when “See You Again” arrived, the arena was predictably enthralled.
Between songs, Puth was funny, self-deprecating (he made jokes about being a new dad and poked fun at his outfit), and genuinely warm. But he also got earnest, repeatedly urging the crowd to go home and make something — a song, a painting, whatever they felt called to create.
The whole thing ran close to two and a half hours and still felt like it ended too soon. That’s the mark of a show that genuinely earns its length rather than just filling time. Night one of the Whatever’s Clever! Tour was a resounding success!
