by Lauren Rosier

Australian’s Mansionair opened up a sold out show for the Scottish band, Chvrches, Thursday night at Philly’s Electric Factory, and they blew the crowd away. The electronic pop rock trio played about a half hour set to a packed house. Mansionair just released a 4-song EP titled Pick Me Up and performed those tracks live as well as another beautifully written track titled “Shadows”.

The crowd seemed to have mixed reviews on the band, but overall, they seemed to be liked.

The show was all-ages, so there was the under 21 crowd all the way through to the older folks, perhaps parents of those under the legal drinking age. It was a good mix of people who enjoyed good music.

Chvrches opened their set with the single, “Never Ending Circles” to an ecstatic audience who sang along and danced to the electronic pop sounds of one of the trio’s biggest songs. The light show that Chvrches had timed to their set was absolutely incredible and made the show that much better. It was a high energy performance; between the lighting, the crowd, and electronic pop dance music, it made me realize just how was their music is for dancing.

At one point during the show, some male fan offered lead vocalist, Lauren Mayberry, a ring for marriage, and another threw his jock strap. If you’ve been following Mayberry, you know she took offense to that. She’s taken a stand against misogynist trolling online lately and definitely wasn’t happy with those fans.

Chvrches played older songs like “Lies”, “Tether”, “Science/Visions”, and “Gun” from their first release, The Bones of What You Believe and “Recover” from their Recover EP. They closed their set with their latest single, “Leave A Trace”, and then were demanded back for a two-song encore featuring “Afterglow”, the last track on their latest release, and then the huge hit, “The Mother We Share”.

If you have the opportunity to catch Chvrches out on their North American tour this fall, definitely do not pass it up. They put on a great live show and these days it can be hard for a band to do that.