Alvvays: Sunny Pop In Boston (Great Scott 10/10)

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In between songs during Alvvays’ set on Friday night at Great Scott, pills there frontwoman Molly Rankin said she never anticipated playing in a live setting. Later, advice she mentioned that a member of the crowd had given them personalized basketball shorts as a gift. Somehow, the latter event seems less feasible, because Alvvays is a very talented band and one would be rightly skeptical of the five-piece’s ability to run a full-court press.

Coming off their critically acclaimed self-titled debut earlier this year, Alvvays (pronounced “Always” — the double “V” is probably a search engine ploy in the vein of Chvrches) performed a set of breezy pop rock. In fact, the songs seemed to be begging to be played not in the crisp air of autumn, but rather in the throes of a warm summer.

The set included faithful renditions of the Canadian band’s studio tracks, which give off a lo-fi vibe. Rankin’s vocals were a bit louder (or less drenched in fuzz) in the mix than on the studio tracks, which allowed her voice to gleam.

This is especially true on “Party Police,” which has a more subdued instrumentation than most of their works. It also has one of the catchiest choruses on the album: “you don’t have to leave, you can just stay here with me / forget all the party police, we can find comfort in debauchery.”

The band saved hit single “Archie, Marry Me” for the last song pre-encore and perfectly led into it thematically with a cover of The Hummingbird’s “Alimony.” “Marry Me” got the appropriate response from the crowd.

Alvvays very much lived up to the buzz — and one would expect them to take off in the festival season next summer.

Local band Funeral Advantage opened the evening, with some witty stage banter and even better pop rock.

New York’s Team Spirit also supported, playing bro-rock with lengthy songs with indulgent choruses that nearly outstayed their welcome, but with stage banter about Jeff Goldblum that did not.

Alvvays

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Team Spirit

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Funeral Advantage

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