It took until the last song before Lauren Mayberry started to well up onstage, which was good going. The singer had mentioned early on the prospect of a hometown Glasgow gig for her solo career had left her emotional all day, both with joy and fear.
Hopefully she hadn't popped her head out for a look at the venue around an hour before stage time, though, because there was considerable empty gaps across the dance floor. In addition, the fact one of the venue's bars was sealed off indicated demand for Mayberry on her own didn't match that for her day job with synth popsters Chvrches, who sold out the venue twice the last time they toured. Then again, perhaps the clash with a Scotland match affected attendance.
Luckily, by the time she and her two backing musicians (one on guitar, the other on drums) walked out, the crowd was much more respectable, although not always lively. They were quite rapt to Mayberry though, clad in a tartan outfit and holding up a landline phone for the opening "Crocodile Tears", and it wasn't long before the first 'we love you Lauren' cry came out, seemingly from a middle-aged man.
The phone wasn't the only retro aspect of the night. The first track appeared to have beamed in from 1985, all chunky backbeat and dancefloor friendly synths, and it was a fine start. The rest of the set displayed a similar affinity for pop history, peaking early on with the terrific Motown via the Sugababes sleekness of "Change Shapes".
If Mayberry's lyrics throughout her solo excursion have been very personal in a way Chvrches sometimes is not, then sonically it was often on nodding terms with her band's work. It was less clubby and more indie-tinged in fairness, but sometimes you wished there was something more distinctive to truly set herself apart. The gig's most interesting moments came when she threw in variety ill-suited to her usual band, particularly on the sweet piano-led "Are You Awake?" or the fuming thrash of "Sorry, Etc" that closed the main set.
However too much time in a one-hour show was attached to pop not far removed from the forceful style of her band's live performances, but less interesting. It was particularly clunky during a middle section that featured the tediously heavy vibe of "Punch Drunk", the overly earnest "Something In the Air" and a bludgeoning cover of the Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony". At least it was different from the original, yet so reliant on bombast that it was unsatisfying.
Thankfully Mayberry herself was good value throughout. For all her talk about nerves, she is an assured performer, firing out chat to the crowd like she'd walked in from a screwball comedy, joking it'd all gone a bit panto after some audience interaction and using a megaphone at another stage. It was the second one she'd bought, she said, after the first one turned out to be a model used by Donald Trump at a MAGA rally, and there were a few warmly recieved digs at Keir Starmer for good measure.
You just wished the music wasn't always as direct as the banter, and a two-song encore capped by the wide-screen "Sunday Best' didn't dispel that feeling. Like much of the set, it was enjoyable enough without feeling essential.
Add comment