Purity Ring (and Blue Hawaii): 2013 Concert

5/4 Crofoot Ballroom Pontiac, Mi

Last night I saw Purity Ring live and I'm still glowing from it, I'm in such a good mood just because it was such a great concert, I'm really glad I got to be there!
I haven't listened to them all that much, to be honest. I downloaded the album about two months ago and listened to it passively. Then Coachella rolled around, and I wasn't there, but I caught their performance live on YouTube and it was really interesting to me! all the fog, those fancy-shmancy lights that guy had that he was PLAYING with drumsticks! Anyways, I checked to see if they were going to come around here anytime soon and they were going to be in MI in just a couple weeks time. I quickly bought tickets and listened to Shrines a couple more times. I just liked how catchy the songs are, and I knew the concert would be a lot of fun. Fast forward a couple days before the concert to where I've listened to the album a couple more times, and I had been reading the lyrics and I realized they're not just a quirky experimental band whose music is just very dance-able  There's something dark and twisted in the lyrics, they're haunting at times. They seem romantic but they put what they're saying into such strange phraseology (example: Fineshrine). And I've come to realize that there's more to them than what I heard on my first listen. The dance-able poppy element never goes away, even when engaging in listening to the lyrics.

I was a bit unmoved by Blue Hawaii, they had their moments during the brief set. They played four or five songs. It wasn't bad but it wasn't as an unforgettable show. I found myself swaying a little the whole time. Raph Standell-Preston and Alexander Cowan are obviously passionate and attached to the music they make-- as seen by the way Alexander was doing his lil' jigs to the music and how Raph was almost jumping into the notes she was hitting. I can't say I'd go out of my way to see Blue Hawaii again.

Finally Purity Ring comes on after a well anticipated wait. They get on stage and Corin Roddick unveils his set up. The touch-sensitive lights he plays with drumsticks are really. The lights on stage and the fog that set in made the aurora amazing. The lights made the show really interesting, its not like they were just cool effects added to make it a little more razzle-dazzle. The lights and fog added to every song's individuality and the album as a whole.

Purity Ring was amazing to see live, it was unlike any other concert I've ever been to so far. They have a lot of offer and I can't wait to hear more, in the meantime I'll be analyzing the one album they have out currently, I'd really like to know what sort of theme(s) run through it. It's a really unique album that doesn't seem like too much weight to it at first, but when you realize they constantly mention ribcages, organs and the anatomy to say what they're trying to say; it pulls you in.

Fineshrine