Photos by Katrina Lat
Glasgow trio Chvrches returned to Toronto last night on a short North American tour victory lap plugging last year’s third album, Love Is Dead.
If the vast Rebel complex wasn’t sold out, it sure felt like it was and when the trio hit the stage along with a touring drummer, it sure sounded sold out.
The band started with a relative slow pace, kicking off the proceedings with “Get Out” but quickly dialed up the intensity and energy levels with a bouncy “Bury It” which sounded awesome and had the venue bouncing.
Lauren Mayberry has definitely grown more comfortable on stage over the years. She works the stage more and more each time I catch the band and her banter is still quite endearing. It could be the Scottish accent or her humble musings. I’m not sure what was happening up front, but there was a humorous exchange between possible parents and their young one, pulling Martin Doherty in as the evil twin, cursing and all!
But back to the music, the band played 70 minutes with an appropriate light show but Rebel’s sound system just seemed to be overwhelmed by Chvrches’ output. The addition of the drummer really added some weight to the band’s dancefloor beats, adding a sweaty urgency to the set including highlights “We Sink” and “Leave a Trace”.
Doherty came from under the shadows to the centre stage for my set highlight, “Under the Tide” which has always been a Chvrches’ euphoric high live. They closed out the main set out with “Clearest Blue” which was another euphoric highlight and looked like they had everyone in the crowd jumping. The band returned to finish the sweaty gathering with “The Mother We Share” and “Never Say Die”. I’m not sure why this band is not bigger over in these parts – they have consistently put on great shows and their albums are pretty solid, although some take some time to reveal their charm. Hopefully this changes for the next album.
