It’s so disappointing to get really amped up on an artist’s studio album, then head to their live show only to have the performance not live up to the recording. Understandably, some people operate best with a couple takes under their belt, so I don’t want to begrudge them. 

Thankfully, this was not the case when Indigo de Souza stormed through Boston’s Royale the other week, touring off her latest release All of This Will End.

If you couldn’t tell by our brief preview of the show, we were excited. All of This Will End is one of the year’s most engaging rock records. While the house at Royale was not quite sold out (let’s say “comfortably full”), the attendees were all eager to hear what the singer-songwriter could do. Sluice, who also hail from de Souza’s native North Carolina, provided a very lucid intro to the evening with their soft, gentle dreampop. Due in part to the lighting on the stage, but I thought they were a two-piece guitar and bass combo before I noticed a drummer deep on the stage, cloaked in shadow. As a photographer, I’m begging venues: please light the drummers. 

Contrary to the misdirective intro, de Souza not only brings the record’s energy to her live performance, she and her backing band actually do quite a bit to give hope to fans of live guitar rock. Their playing was tight and measured, and the new songs from All of This Will End sounded seasoned and practiced, belying the fact that they are still just a few months old. She opened her set with “Time Back” and “You Can Be Mean,” mimicking the albums tandem intro. Fans of the new album were pleased to hear all but two of the release’s tracks performed live. The other half of the set were selections from her previous two albums, I Love My Mom and Any Shape You Take. “Real Pain” from the latter album served as the night’s sole encore performance, the eighteenth song in a generously-lengthed set, especially for a Monday evening. 

Now with a trilogy of critic and fan-acclaimed albums under her belt, it will be interesting to see what is next for Indigo de Souza. If she has any sort of formula, it’s been working. It’s exciting to think about what she can add to that to expand her artistry 

Check out our photos from the show below.