The past year has been a crazy and successful year for Canadian born synth-pop singer Lights (real name Valerie Poxleitner). After giving birth to her first child, Rocket, and releasing her third studio album Little Machines, the singer has found even more success than she had before. Little Machines won Pop Album of the Year at the 2015 JUNO awards. For my fellow Americans who are unaware, its the Canadian equivilant to a Grammy. Motherhood hasn’t stopped the unsuppresable force that radiates from such a petite woman. With her 10 month old in tow, Lights has embarked on another tour with support from the Mowglis. I was fortunate enough to catch her set at Irving Plaza on November 18th.
Having seen Lights play at bigger name festivals before, I was delighted to finally get a chance to experience an “actual” Lights show. Irving Plaza was packed full of eager listeners and fans, like myself, ready to see the main act. Opening up with a b-side off Little Machines titled “From All Sides”, I knew I was in for something special. Her set design was simplistic, yet mesmerizing and she had a gangle of men quietly playing the various instruments in the background. After playing a few bangers off Little Machines and her previous release Siberia, she picked up her guitar and played an acoustic song from each of her 3 albums. Having tweeted earlier about wanting to “bathe in Reeses” (who doesnt??), she was showered with the peanut butter candy on stage. Someone even threw their cell phone, which she graciously took and filmed a video on before giving it back to the lucky fan. She then hypnotized the audience with a rendition of her song Portal. For such a small women, she has an incredibly powerful and soothing voice. After playing favorites like “Running with the Boys” and “Timing Is Everything”, she closed her set with the ever-popular and infectiously groovy “Up We Go”. But the audience was NOT satisfied. After starting a “LIGHTS” chant, she came out to dazzle us one more time with “Banner” her ode to peace and love, especially in a time where the world needs it the most.
All in all, I would rate this show a very rare 10/10. It speaks volumes to me as a writer and as a lover of music that Lights has the energy, the charisma, and the ability to capture the attention of such a large audience, to the point where I noticed that almost no one had their phone out. Everyone at the show was more focused on having a good time and enjoying the music. I, myslelf, put my phone away too. You can buy Little Machines on iTunes now! And you can check out Lights on tour with the Mowglis.