After her song “ceilings” went viral on TikTok early last year, Lizzy McAlpine has become a household name in indie pop circles. Her latest album, “Older,” which she released April 5, is full of wistful pop ballads about love, loss and heartbreak. The Older Tour stopped at the Greek Theatre Saturday, inviting fans into the hills above Los Feliz to witness McAlpine’s talent for themselves.

A cozy set greeted audience members as they entered the theater, transforming the 5,900-person venue into an intimate, warm space. The stage was decorated like the living room of a mid-century modern cabin, complete with glowing lamps, wood paneling and a nine-pane window.

McAlpine’s pre-show music added to the eclectic atmosphere. “The Dreams I Dream” by The Shadows, “L’appuntamento” by Ornella Vanoni and “Born at the Right Time” by Paul Simon all blasted through the speakers as fans eagerly filed into the theater. The crowd formed a sea of denim jackets as they waited for McAlpine to appear.

At 9 p.m., the stage went dark for a second before all the lamps flickered on. The band came out first as a sound bath of bird chirps and ambient static firmly situated the performance in a secluded cabin. The outdoor venue, surrounded by towering trees, furthered the look of the outdoor cabin and served as an homage to McAlpine’s first studio album, “Give Me A Minute.”

Finally, McAlpine entered to roaring applause, walking through a door in the set before putting on her headphones and picking up an acoustic guitar. Her 20-song setlist included every song on “Older,” four songs from her 2022 sophomore album “five seconds flat,” one unreleased song and one cover. 

McAlpine and her band were all dressed casually, adding to the cozy vibes. She wore a bodycon dress with a navy blue cardigan, and her bandmates donned loungewear. The warm glow of the lamps enveloped McAlpine and her band as they began the set.

The band’s passion for performing live was palpable as they all swayed, smiled and danced, getting into the groove. McAlpine’s laughter and smiles sprinkled into her performances brought good energy to the show despite her songs’ emotional heaviness and vulnerability.

The singer-songwriter opened with “The Elevator” before diving into “Come Down Soon,” both of which contain the emotional catharsis that marked “five seconds flat” but with an added restraint that is new to “Older.” The band finished the latter with an elaborate instrumental section from band members Tyler Nuffer on the pedal steel guitar, Remy Morritt on the drums, Ryan Richter and Mason Stoops on guitar, and Michael “Libro” Libramento on bass.

After the final notes of “Come Down Soon,” she took a moment to acknowledge her first show at the Greek Theatre.

“This is crazy. This has been a dream venue for a while,” McAlpine said. “This is really exciting. Thanks for being here.” 

In “Like It Tends To Do,” McAlpine adeptly fingerpicked on the guitar while her bandmate Taylor Mackall played a lilting melody on the piano. Before singing “Movie Star,” McAlpine switched to a different guitar. The audience never saw the same guitar being played more than twice; sometimes, she would play piano instead of guitar, and other times, she played no instruments at all to focus on delivering strong vocals.

The crowd went wild for “All Falls Down,” a more upbeat song sandwiched between her slower tracks. As McAlpine sang the first line of verse two, “Twenty-three and a sold-out show,” fans screamed the line back to her, referencing the packed venue.

An extended piano instrumental led into “Staying,” a slow, soulful ballad. People waved their phone flashlights around, illuminating the theater. Throughout the night, McAlpine seamlessly switched back and forth between her lower register and her head voice, demonstrating her range.

After a raw, stripped-down rendition of “I Guess,” McAlpine took a break from playing “Older.” The first notes to “doomsday” echoed through the speakers to massive cheers from the audience. Mackall added a twangy piano riff to the song’s bridge, complementing McAlpine’s strong vocal vibrato as fans sang along to the hard-hitting track.

During the second half of her set, McAlpine alternated between sitting center stage with her guitar and playing the piano on the right side of the stage. For the first time ever, she played a cover of “When She Loved Me” from “Toy Story 2” (1999), garnering thunderous applause.

“You Forced Me To” started with a hypnotizing guitar fingerpicking solo from Stoops as electronic backing harmonies layered on top of McAlpine’s live vocals halfway through the song, adding an interesting edge to a very stripped-down performance.

Returning to the middle of the stage, McAlpine introduced the album’s titular track, “Older,” which she wrote just a few months ago. After she felt like a different song on the album didn’t fit her vision, Stoops suggested she go back to the drawing board and pen another song with the band.

“I hadn’t really been writing a lot. I was in production mode, and then [‘Older’] just kind of came out in like 20 minutes,” McAlpine said. “It really opened everything up. After this song was written, I started going back and listening to the other songs in the album, and it was helping me to recontextualize them, and I realized that they can really be about anything. That was really freeing and eye-opening.”

This quick ingenuity and raw talent was obvious as McAlpine closed out her set with an unreleased song titled “Force of Nature” before wrapping up playing her album “Older” with its last track, “Vortex.”

She and the band left through the front door of the “house,” waving goodbye to the crowd, only for McAlpine to return to the stage alone for an encore performance after chants of “Lizzy, Lizzy, Lizzy” filled the theater. 

She performed “firearm” with just a guitar, reminding the audience that at her core, McAlpine is a talented singer-songwriter who garnered fame for her lyrical prowess and acoustic guitar skills. Her entire set at the Greek Theatre, and the album “Older” itself, seem to serve as reminders of this, prioritizing vocals and storytelling: She writes about growing up and falling in and out of love, making her relatable to her young audience who is also coming of age.

McAlpine’s band rejoined her for the last song of the night — a slowed-down version of “ceilings.” After the two-song encore, she and her band linked arms to take a group bow to overwhelming cheers from the audience. 

As the night drew to a close, McAlpine and her band waved goodbye and left through the door of their living room set once more. The lamps onstage flickered out to deafening applause.