Live Review: The Naked and Famous - Rio Theatre, Vancouver 14/03/2018

The Naked and Famous were at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver on Tuesday night for their A Still Heart Stripped tour. 

This choice of seated, movie-theatre may have seemed like an odd choice of venue for anyone who has ever seen the indie-electronic-pop group live. However, because the show is almost fully acoustic it worked amazingly and allowed the audience to focus entirely on the incredible vocals from Alisa Xayalith and Thom Powers.

Despite the show coming only a week after the announcement that Aaron Short and Jesse Wood, two original members of the band, were moving on to pursue new paths in their lives and careers, Powers, Xayalith, and David Beadle (another original band member) did a fantastic job of keeping the show alive. The banter between members on stage and audience was kept well alive with Thom creating truly iconic segues into songs, such as "speaking of Instagram", to go into the next song. They were also joined by friend and fellow Los Angeles musician, Luna Shadows.

This show was likely a unique one for The Naked and Famous fans, as it's not often that you hear this indie-pop group strip their sound right down, but it was also amazing to witness. No doubt fans are excited by the news that Powers, Xayalith and Beadle are back to their "normal sound" in the studio creating album number four, but also we hope deep down that this will be a turning point and allow them to continue to experiment with their sound.



Words and Photography by Kelli Anne Lane