PVRIS / Lydia / Cruisr at Mill City Nights, Minneapolis (31 May 2016)

Cruisr

The show was opened by Cruisr, an indie pop band from Philadelphia even though their music made it sound like they are from California. Their music was upbeat and had an element of surf-pop to it. Cruisr’s new single ‘Take That’ came out earlier this year.

Lydia

Lydia was one of the quintessential emo/pop bands to come out in the early 2000’s. They toured with bands such as Saves the Day, Armor for Sleep, and so many other bands from the genre. Lydia announced a hiatus in 2010 but returned a short year later. It was nice to see them back. Singer Leighton Antelman still had his extremely distinctive voice but the music seemed to have matured since the early 2000’s. Their music was much more mellow than that of Pvris’ but still full of energy.



Although the band released Run Wild in 2015, as you can see from their setlist, only a few songs from that self-confessed ‘dark album’ were played, including ‘Riverman’ and set closer ‘When It Gets Dark Out’.



Surprisingly their very early single ‘Hospital’ was included on the set, because that original recording featured guest vocalists Aaron Marsh, of Copeland fame.



The music of PVRIS is extremely unique in a way that makes them fit on every sort of line-up. They have opened up for poppy bands like The Maine and, most recently, they opened up for metalcore act Bring Me The Horizon. Regardless of what genre the headlining act was on their past tours, Pvris was able to stand out and make an impression on the generally young crowds. It was nice to see them headline a show and truly shine through their nearly hour long set.



Singer Lyndsey Gunnulfsen had the crowd hanging onto every word she sang with her beautifully smooth voice. Even though the music has a hint of straight-up pop music, Gunnulfsen’s voice has a bit of edge that changes the whole mood of the music. The crowd jumped up and down to every beat of the angsty teenage anthems and then Gunnulfsen made her way between the stage and barrier, the crowd pushed as hard as they could towards the front of the stage while the parents stood back by the bar.



After playing ten songs including ‘St. Patrick’ (their first music video that they released), the crowd exited the stage but left the crowd chanting “one more song!”. After a few moments the band took the stage to play their two current hit songs, ‘You and I’ and ‘My House’ both off of their debut full length White Noise (Rise Records).



Remaining tour dates: