If you’re anything like me, the band Alvvays has been a staple name in your music taste. I grew up listening to their album “Antisocialites”, having been shown this my freshman year of highschool. I didn’t stop listening to the album from that day on until I graduated in 2021.
Then came “Blue Rev”. Having been released eleven days before my birthday, this almost felt like fate. Their long hiatus between album releases did not disappoint- “Blue Rev” quickly became one of my favorite albums I had ever listened to, rivaling that same high “Antisocialites” gave me for so many years.
And then came Hopscotch. Alvvays was headlining alongside Pavement. My expectations were high, and they were exceeded. Alvvays sounded exactly like their studio recordings. Their sound was energetic and charged, contrasting their mellow and warm stage presence. Molly Rankin, the lead singer, joked about the humid temperatures us Raleigh locals are so used to. She’s from Canada, and was wearing a long sleeve. Go figure.
Their performance of “Archie, Marry Me” blew my high school mind away. I was surrounded by others who loved the band just as much as I did which made the streets of City Plaza feel more like a community rather than just a street downtown. The sounds of the chorus being sung echoed around the skyscrapers surrounding us. I wasn’t expecting this at all, and it was an amazing surprise. I had assumed the Pavement fans would’ve shown up early and ended up taking over.
They closed with “Easy on Your Own?”, a perfect way to send us off into the night. There was a tangible energy to the entire performance, a buzz that almost lingered in the air. Hearing them live was something I’ve wanted to witness since I first heard them years ago, and it was amazing. Alvvays always is.
