ATP! Live Review: PVRIS with Lights and Flint Eastwood - 10/16/2017

At the merch table before the show, I grabbed a PVRIS shirt, while my friend, having never listened to any of the bands before, picked out a Flint Eastwood one because it looked cool. After she bought it, she said, “Well, I sure hope this band isn’t terrible.” Luckily for her, Flint Eastwood was awesome.

I’d never heard her music before, but I’ll certainly be listening now. She came out with immediate presence and threw her all into her songs, getting people to sing along and calling out the ones sitting stone-faced. Her music is insanely catchy and makes you want to dance. I’m excited to hopefully hear them everywhere in the future.

Up next was Lights, an artist I’ve heard a ton about, but hadn’t listened to a lot before her latest album. Dedicated fans in the crowd had bright red hair to match her and were dressed up in cosplay as the character of her Skin&Earth graphic novel.

She genuinely seemed like the sweetest person while on stage, taking time to sign a fan’s shirt and calling out the red hair she saw. While she seems soft-spoken while talking, her voice is a powerhouse when she’s singing. Her range is outstanding and everything she sang sounded perfect. She played mostly new songs, but she definitely made me want to check out her older stuff.

PVRIS came out with a bang, starting with “Heaven” and an awesome stage background, the lights and images on screens perfectly evoking the feel of their music. They played a good mix of old and new songs in the first half, with the middle featuring only Lynn and guitarist Alex Babinski on stripped-down versions of “Same Soul” and “White Noise.” A highlight of the show, Lynn’s ethereal vocals soared.

Lynn also inspired one of the most epic concert sing-alongs I’ve ever been a part of. As a joke before “What’s Wrong” she asked if we could sing a part, and started singing the first lines of “All Star” by Smash Mouth—and then the crowd sang the full first verse and chorus. The band cracked up and Lynn said, “Wow, I thought that was gonna last two seconds. I’ve never done acid, but I imagine it would be something like that.”

They powered through the rest of the set, ending with “My House” before the encore, “No Mercy.” One of my favorite songs off the new album, I was glad to see everyone else loving it as much as I did. It seemed to be where everyone, including the band, absolutely let loose and went nuts, with Lynn coming into the crowd towards the end.

Before the band left the stage, they started playing “All Star” over the speakers, laughing as they walked off with the crowd singing all the words until they made their way out the doors.