What does a Nintendo DS have to do with the band Alvvays? To most there’s no connection. To me, there’s probably too much.
Saturday night, Alvvays played in front of a sold-out Newport Music Hall. In the crowd was a Nintendo DS. A fun, unexpected, piece of technology that a concertgoer used to capture part of the show.
Seeing a DS at a concert once is fun. It’s silly. It’s a little ditty to share with fellow millennial friends. Not warranting much attention outside of a chuckle. However, Saturday wasn’t the first time I’ve seen this 10+ year old technology used for concert photography. The DS is following me around Columbus.
In November, it was at the Bluestone, watching Slaughter Beach, Dog. Now, the Nintendo snapped memories of a band that, like the DS, looks and sounds like it’s from a bygone era. Its outdated microphone heard a band that sounds every bit like a tour tested group of musicians. Alvvays plays a set that’s best described as professional, in the best possible way.
Opening for the Grammy nominated band was SPLLIT. Out of New Orleans, SPLLIT sounds like a combination of Animal Collective and Primus. It’s a group that puts all its energy into its sets, crunching away on guitar, switching vocals between the fronting duo Urq and Marance.
SPLLIT has the ability to slam on the brakes mid song, sometimes frequently, and keeping whatever time signature it wants at that given time. Handcuffing the set at first was screeching feedback out of the speakers anytime the lead guitarist tried talking with the crowd.
The group persevered through the troubles out of their control. Keeping it going was a talented rhythm section of bass and drums setting a foundation. Even before starting its set, the drummer’s Austin 3:16 shirt was good foreshadowing of his command.
Photo by Rachel Barbash
A pair that looks like traveling musicians for the tour fit right in, keeping things stable for the vocalists and song creators.
Audience-wise, it’s no secret that people buy tickets for the headlining act. The flow of Alvvays’ songs compared to SPLLIT’s set left a void. File it under “different strokes for different folks.” A gap that wasn’t clear until Alvvays stepped on stage and the Newport crowd hit
Alvvays played and hour and twenty-minute set that included 22 songs. They weren’t playing through songs faster than the recordings, but the band was efficient. As one song ended, it didn’t take long for another to follow behind. A well-experienced guitar tech switched out lead singer Molly Rankin and lead guitarist Alec O’Hanley’s equipment and the show continued.
There wasn’t much in terms of between song chit chat. Outside of a required 4/20 reference, something celebrated by the crowd often throughout the night, and Rankin mentioning a bandmate pointing out that each armpit area of her shirt had holes. I couldn’t see either. Maybe the DS caught it?
Included in the 22 songs were all 14 from the critically acclaimed 2022 release Blue Rev. Unlike some bands, Alvvays didn’t play the songs in order, but the fine-tuned sound built by the band since its formation in 2011 fills every song.
O’Hanley’s guitar and Kerri MacLellan’s keyboard instrumentals give Alvvays a sound out of the 1980s. In front of a Smiths-esque fuzz, the soft-spoken Rankin drove songs home with her anything but soft-spoken lyrical and vocal work.
Adding to the haze of the band’s play was a lightshow and camera setup that added another level of experience. Using three different cameras on stage, each the size of a GoPro, their own playing and singing stretched across the curtain behind the five-person group.
Photo by Rachael Barbash
A level of showmanship it brought added to songs that didn’t sound dissimilar from studio recordings. When the songs are as good as Alvvays though, they don’t need to be enhanced for a live performance.
Follow the band on social media and they’re almost always on tour. After Blue Rev’s release, it was a Canada and US tour before the summer festival season. Then, stops in Taiwan, Singapore, Taiwan and Australia before coming back to the USA this spring. Normally, bands seem to avoid multiple Ohio concert stops, but Saturday was the third in-state concert in as many nights. While there’s no word on sell outs in the other cities, each one looked close to packed because Alvvays is a band that is on the edge of hitting that next level of popularity.
The band spread its setlist out over its three LPs, adding four songs from its 2014 self-titled album and 2017’s Antisocialites. After playing a more keyboard-driven “Very Online Guy” from Blue Rev, they went into “Adult Diversion,” from their debut album. A song going the other direction, sounding more punk than the band’s current alternative rock genre.
Alvvays added “Archie, Marry Me,” a fan favorite from Alvvays. Then ending the pre-encore set with the band’s fastest song “Pomeranian Spinster” and juxtaposing it with “Lottery Noises.”
Returning for the encore was a reverse chronological order of songs, starting with the first track on Blue Rev, “Pharmacist.” The night ended with “Atop a Cake,” again from the band’s full introduction to the alternative music world.
While the band’s sound has grown over 13 years together, it fit together seamlessly on stage. A show worthy of all the space on your Nintendo DS’ storage drive.
Featured image by Rachael Barbash
