Page 51 - Black Velvet Issue 89

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PVRIS / K.FLAY / BONES – BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE, 09.04.16
It’s the final show of
PVRIS’s first ever UK headline
tour. Since releasing their debut
album, ‘White Noise’ in 2014,
the band have been attracting
fans like wildfire. Shows were
sold out and rooms upgraded.
Tonight’s opener is Bones, a
London three-piece; two girls
and a male drummer. It’s re-
freshing to hear someone sing
with a UK/London accent. As
girls, they’ve no doubt been vic-
tim to and seen sexism in the
music industry and have a song
called ‘Girls Can’t Play Guitar’
after a guy in Camden said it
was biologically impossible for
girls to play guitar. The band
show that they can play guitar
and write songs with meaning
and substance. They have an-
other called ‘Fat’ about getting
fat – and comment at how we all
feel pressure to stay skinny but
sometimes you’ve just got to get
fat. Bones have also supported
Skunk Anansie and there’s very
much a female empowerment
and alt-rock vibe to them.
“You’ve been boned,” they tell
the crowd before leaving the
stage.
Everyone on the bill is
fronted by a female. The second
artist to grace the stage is
K.Flay, a California-based alter-
native artist who uses hip-
hop/rap to deliver her lyrics over
lo-fi, electro beats. She also has
two male musicians to back her
up. There are elements of indie
rock but the rock factor is sparce
and overall, K.Flay’s music is
not really our kind of thing. We’d
prefer K.Flay to sing more rather
than how she currently spouts
out the lyrics. That said, fans of
hip-hop may well appreciate her
a lot more and credit to her for
doing her own thing.
Less than a year ago, PVRIS were playing 250 capacity venues in
the UK. Now, in 2016, they’ve sold out the 2000 capacity O2 Institute.
There’s something about PVRIS that everyone wants, and wants to see.
So far they only have one album under their belts, so the night is a large
ode to that. Opening with ‘Smoke’, the first single on ‘White Noise’, the
band perform with lots of white lighting and black imagery. There’s a
dark, film noir style to the band and their show. They’re all dressed in
black and musically, they incorporate electro to their indie rock. In
places, it comes across, particularly if you’re a rock fan, as if there’s too
much programmed background; a lot of the electronic elements have
been pre-recorded, although the band like to be creative in the studio
and obviously it can’t be all transferred live. The dancey elements get
the crowd going in newer song ‘You And I’, while ‘Eyelids’ is calm and
placid. Likewise, ‘Only Love’ is an old, mellow song that sees Lynn
Gunn ask the crowd if it’s cool they slow things down for a little while
with. The band bring a lot of atmosphere, ambience and art to the show
through their music and ‘Let Them In’ is a particularly passionate num-
ber. ‘Ghosts’ see camera lights in the air, while Lynn tells everyone to
put them away in their pockets for ‘Holy’, joking when she calls a fan
out as she spots one. The show ends with ‘My House’ and Lynn jumping
off the stage and greeting the front row. Tonight, the O2 Institute WAS
PVRIS’s house; they definitely made it their own.
YYYY
SBV
Lynn Gunn (PVRIS) Photo By Shari Black Velvet
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