Live Review: Alvvays, Hatchie

Brisbane’s Hatchie stepped into the support slot for Canadian indie-pop band Alvvays at the last minute. Her dream-pop – catchy lyrics, lush synth, vocals drenched in reverb – easily fit with the headliner and with their ‘80s prom backdrop complete with silver streamers hanging from the back of the stage. Armed with tracks from her EP, Sugar & Spice, and this year’s debut full-length, Keepsake, like Her Own Heart and Stay With Me, Hatchie proved herself as one of the most assured musicians of her generation.

Alvvays arrived on the stage to fanfare from the crammed Metro Theatre crowd. Playing their first Aussie shows since the release of 2017’s Antisocialites, Alvvays had the audience’s attention as they eagerly awaited their first live taste of these new jangle-pop tracks like opener Hey, In Undertow and Not My Baby. 

With songs largely four minutes or less and careening guitar lines, the band conjured up the languid pace of summer on a brisk winter’s night in Sydney – it was the sound of tinnies cracked open, thighs peeled off bus seats and heat rising from the footpath.

The audience were besotted by frontwoman Molly Rankin, dressed in a white boilersuit, who led her band through their tight set, bouncing along to songs like Plimsoll Punks and showing off her vocal range, reaching every high note. The crowd bopped along too, especially with standout tracks from the band’s 2014 self-titled record, like Adult Diversion. Accompanied only by synth, Rankin enraptured with Forget About Life, illuminated by shimmering blue light, before the tempo rose again for Your Type, her guitar wailing.

A high point came with the raised arms and projected voices of Archie, Marry Me, the energy from the crowd remaining high for Dreams Tonite and Party Police, which had the room bathed in red light. There was a loving feeling in the air, couples with their arms around one another and friends dancing together. Alvvays closed the show with Next Of Kin, the audience clapping along to the song’s sprawling finish.