Chvrches returned home for a sweaty sold out two nights at Glasgow Barrowlands as they reach the end of their ‘Screen Violence’ world tour.
The band have never been shy about expressing their politics and in true Glasgow fashion the screen visuals pre show explained the goals of the Refuweegee charity and described how to donate.
Local band Dead Pony kicked off as the support act, to an unusually packed audience, off the back of their recently released single ‘MK Nothing’ the post-punk four-piece did a good job hyping up what was an already excited crowd.
For a new and self-produced band their songs had a surprising amount of polish and with lead singer Anna bouncing around the stage there were definitely echoes of Paramore on show.
Next up it was time for the main event. Chvrches have reached legendary status in their hometown and the level of excitement was palpable as they came out to ‘He Said She Said’. As they went through their set evenly picked from their 10-year catalogue the band changed instruments almost as many times as the synth pop trio transcended genres.
On more than one occasion Lauren Mayberry stopped twirling and grinned as the whole audience sang back to her and the band’s appreciation for their audience was on full show as Martin Doherty, on drums, shouted: “Barrowlands is the best fucking venue on earth” as the band headed off stage before their encore.
For their encore the band wanted to go out with a bang, so Lauren came out covered in fake blood and ‘Asking For A Friend’ had the crowd bouncing so much the entire building was shaking. This was followed by ‘The Mother We Share’ bringing on the type of crowd singalong you might expect at a Taylor Swift concert.
It has been just over 10 years since Chvrches released their debut album and these emotional and euphoric homecoming shows have cemented their status as Glasgow legends.
