On October 2nd, the doors of the Palace Theater had lines of people bellowing out of the building waiting to get into the first of two sold out CHVRCHES shows. The four piece pop band has been gaining major steam and shows no sign of slowing down now. CHVRCHES is currently touring their third album “Love is Dead”. With them they brought the up and coming pop band Lo Moon.
At 8:00pm, Lo Moon hit the stage, waking the crowd up and warming them up from the cold fall weather outside. The band commanded the stage with ease showcasing their many talents. Their ambient yet upbeat grind had the crowd swaying from side to side to the beat of the music. The lead man’s vocals filled the room and had people go from show gaze to non stop viewing. The band of course walked off the stage with the crowd cheering at their back.
Just after 9:00pm the room went dark and the stage flickered with light. A bunch of random noises started to play some undertone notes and blimps of lead sing Lauren Mayberry’s voice. Then the crowd erupted as the band took to the still flickering stage. CHVRCHES was here and immediately went into a banger off their new album called “Get Out”. The song had people jumping and cheering louder than ever. After that they went straight in “Gun” a classic off their first album. By this time of the show the crowd was going nuts, people were even dancing in the back. As the show went on it was obvious this band was having a lot of fun, from dancing around and smiling to fun banter between each other it truly felt incredibly intimate in a sold out room. Mayberry did a fantastic job of talking, just talking. Most people at that level seem like they are above the crowd and talk that way too, however her and the band’s banter felt incredibly personable.
The band played 16 songs in their main set covering almost all of their hits including “We Sink”, “Recovery”, “Graffiti”, “Miracle” and “Leave a Trace”. CHVRCHES closed with ” Clearest Blue”. When that first note hit the crowd jumped all the way to the back of the room. The band was loud but, together the audience belted so that their voices could be heard on the same level as CHVRCHES. For the encore Mayberry came out and said “This is a song off of our first record that just turned five, I hope you remember it.” Needless to say we all did as she started to sing a solo version of the song that broke them “The Mother We Share”. The crowd immediately knew what to do and started helping her sing. After the chorus, the song started over but with the beats and instruments behind it this time. Once again all the way to the back the crowd was jumping. It didn’t stop for the last song either. CHVRCHES closed the show with a song off their new album “Never Say Die” Mayberry had the audience chanting the back up vocals “Didn’t you say that? Didn’t you say that?” as she belted the last song of the night. While the band played the last few notes, Mayberry waved to the crowd and ran off the stage. CHVRCHES ended the song and the lights came up. After seeing this band live, it is clear that there is no reason why they shouldn’t go all the way to the top.
