Live Review: Pvris - Eventim Apollo, London 26/01/2023
PVRIS, Maggie Lindemann and Charlotte Sands were the killer trio taking on Eventim Apollo on Thursday night, and rocking it.
Yes, Lynn Gunn’s PVRIS were headliners at this show, moved across town from Brixton Academy, but Maggie and opener Charlotte brought their own special vibe to the show. It won’t be long until they’re playing venues of this size on their own terms. The Apollo has a rich history of notable acts, but this was acts right now in the midst of their creation – Charlotte issued a single the day before, and PVRIS’s latest song ‘GODDESS’, which opened the encore, was released that day.
It’s rare that anyone cares enough to chant the opener’s name, but cries of “Charlotte. Charlotte” erupted before Sands even made it to the stage. She kicked the evening off roaming the stage during ‘Tantrum’, waving to the crowd, and getting the room going. Clearly, the chanting was warranted. There was arm waving in ‘Every Guy Ever’, and a sea of phone lights during ‘Alright’, issued to digital platforms on Wednesday, which was a rare calmer moment in an action-filled 30 minutes.
‘Rollercoaster’ was killer, with the break down of lyrics “Roller/Coaster/Spinning me round, up and down ‘til we’re over/Pull me/Closer”. She ditched the microphone stand of ‘Alright’ to run from side to side during penultimate track, ‘Lost’, before the conclusion, viral hit ‘Dress’, which is deservedly huge. Charlotte Sands left a distilled chaos, and a lot of smiles on faces. You’re left yearning for more, and that’s all you need in an opener. A future star.
Maggie’s half-hour was more bitter in style, but that’s okay, because it threw any thoughts of the old ‘Pretty Girl’ right out the window. The 25-year-old’s opening track ‘self sabotage’ instigated a setlist formed from last year’s ‘SUCKERPUNCH’ LP. She proved that she owned the Apollo stage during ‘She Knows It’, before tearing through back-to-back album tracks ‘novocaine’ and ‘you’re not special’, the former of which came with the sour refrain “All my tears and all my pain, take it away, Novocaine”.
The crowd were actively amped for this one. After her second last song, ‘casualty of your dreams’, she told the crowd “That’s my first ever mosh pit. That’s so rad.” The closer ‘cages’ is a stomping dismissal of those telling her what to do, but that was plainly evident during the previous 30 minutes too. Maggie Lindemann is circling back to the UK in May for headline shows, and based on this showing, they’re going to motivate the masses to celebrate her terse but glorious pop-rock offerings.
PVRIS opened at 9.15pm with 2022 single ‘ANIMAL’, the stage bathed in yellow light at the beginning of a colour explosion for the next 80 minutes. They moved across to the red of ‘Monster’, as Lynn Gunn’s trio returned to the English capital for the first time since the beginning of 2020. The pretty lights were accompanied by good music.
Third song ‘Mirrors’ was their first step back into the history of PVRIS, coming from debut album ‘White Noise’ – and it was a banger. Lynn is central to the whole shebang, and her style mixes gritty confidence with a bunch of fun. She’s lit up in a spotlight for ‘Gimme a Minute’.
They played songs from all three albums - ‘What’s Wrong’ saving their 2017 album from being erased entirely. Then the stage was bathed in orange for, naturally, ‘Fire’, as the 2014 hit was propelled along by Denny Agosto’s blazing drumming. Meanwhile ‘Old Wounds’ saw the lights go green, like a neon medical emergency room. It’s gritty and it’s punchy, but it works on so many levels – such is the PVRIS way.
It felt like any other show in so many ways – there was a customary shoutout to ‘friend’ Charlotte and ‘friend’ Maggie, and an attempt at crowd participation before ‘My Way’ was actually awful, before the fans found their voice. But it felt like a moment for the trio, as they posed for a group photo before ‘You And I’, while Lynn soaked in the beautiful venue. She concluded it by singing “Petey and I” – in honour of her cat, back home with her girlfriend – and “London and I”. She wasn’t sure if this was their biggest headline show, or whether it was their visit to Brixton Academy in 2017. Either way London loves PVRIS, and the Eurostar of admiration clearly runs the other way too.
“Do you have your dancing pants on?” Lynn asked the crowd at the end of the main set, admitting “I shaved my legs for this!” Of course, the crowd picked up the movement for ‘Death of Me’, before the band left the stage. Thursday saw the release of ‘GODDESS’, the single that opened the encore, and the dancing quickly continued as if they’d never left.
Maybe the biggest dance moment though was the finale, ‘Hallucinations’, which is perhaps to be expected as it was co-written with electronic producer Marshmello. It really picked up the party vibe as the night closed, so much so that their choice of outro music, Prince’s ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’, just fit perfectly, even if it was a slight vibe shift from PVRIS’s electronic pop-rock stylings.
I’ve never seen two-thirds of a headline band run off the stage after saying their goodbyes, hand-in-hand, in an abundant glee normally reserved for the playground. They clearly loved every second of that, and that’s half the battle. The fans loved it too, so the fight was sealed for main event attraction PVRIS, who topped a fine night, aided by Charlotte Sands and Maggie Lindemann.
They’ll all be back around soon – catch them at Slam Dunk, or other festivals, their own shows. They might not all be in rooms as pretty as the Eventim Apollo, but they’ll be as good.
Words by Samuel Draper
Photography by Sam Strutt
