I love their music already, but seeing them in person I fell in love with the whole band. They were fantastic. From the soaring, aching melodies, the subtle yet approachable chord progressions, the intelligence in the lyrics, and Molly Rankin's siren-clear voice, even when feeling sick to her stomach, as she told the audience tonight...this band is in its prime. Sheridan Riley's drums are much more present than what's been put onto their recordings, and each band member has a distinct persona interwoven with the others that comes through onstage in a way that you don't get from just watching video.
And they played "Echolalia" - a melodically and harmonically jarring snippet that I love as well, because it shows musical daring. Was hoping for that one.
This was the first band up - "Hatchlings". From Australia. Three, woman-fronted bands, with a theme of sports team t-shirts/jerseys. She had a strong voice, and the songs, from what I could tell, were good. A bit lacking in dynamics - the sound was kind of a wash of dreamy guitars over everything.
And then this band, "Snail Trail", led by a small blond girl, who looked very young, even younger than the first band's lead singer, who was tall like a eucalyptus tree. Can't say that I liked what they were doing, although had some nice guitar work. It's tough being the band everybody wants to see finish so the main act can take the stage. For me, anyway, Snail Trail's best moment came at the end, with the lead person singing solo, without the rest of the band.
The first glimpse of Alvvays came when bassist Brian Murphy came onstage to tune everybody's guitars.
Union Transfer was packed.
At this point in their career, the band have two albums' worth of songs to choose from, which is nice for the audience in that we've probably heard everything, evidenced by many singing along. They sound like they're in some kind of a sweet spot.
For the encore, band members from all three bands got up onstage for a cover I did not know. Image here of the two, lead Alvvays members harmonizing.
Again...wow. Love this band.
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