Arlo Parks Celebrated A Full-Circle Moment During Her Tiny Desk Concert

Arlo Parks finally made a longtime dream of hers come true. Today (November 1), Parks performed a Tiny Desk Concert as part of NPR’s live performance series.

She opened the session with a performance of “Blades” from her sophomore album, My Soft Machine. She then proceeded to detail her poetry book, The Magic Border, which she released earlier this year. She also reeled over the fact that she was finally playing a Tiny Desk Concert in person.

“This session is generally one of the reasons that I decided to make music and I grew up with this session, so it’s really special to be here,” she said.

This isn’t the first time Parks has performed a Tiny Desk Concert. Back in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Parks recorded an at-home session, simply by herself performing with her guitar.

For her in-person performance, Parks was accompanied by a full band, whose members were dressed in colorful clothing and vibrant makeup.

Also during the set, Parks performed the My Soft Machine fan-favorite “Eugene,” as well as the queer love song, “Pegasus.” She closed her set with “Impurities,” the lead single from My Soft Machine.

You can watch the full Tiny Desk set above.