Lovelytheband: A celebration of life, love and raw human-ness

The stage was set at the Blue Note for lovelytheband and their opener, Twin XL, Sunday night, with moody lighting and soft chatter among the crowd. The concertgoers donned cuffed jeans and Vans shoes- exactly the type of people you’d expect to see at an alternative rock concert.

The opener, Twin XL, took the stage, emulating their audience’s wardrobe with their pinstripe pants, jean jackets, and button up floral shirts. As the crowd’s heads bobbed to the hard-hitting drums, the lead singer launched across the stage, swinging the mic stand left and right as he crooned to the audience. The entirety of their set remained this way, with a formulaic pattern of a solid baseline, drum and guitar focused songs, and some cringey lyrics about life as a teenager, like the song about going to a festival, getting drunk, and going home with someone you don’t know. The lead singer asked the crowd about having a deep crush on someone and whether they felt like they were constantly messing up, trying his hardest to relate to an audience only somewhat interested in what was happening onstage. What energy Twin XL couldn’t find in the crowd they found in each other, often locking eyes and smiling as they played. By the end of the set, the audience was moving and dancing a lot more than when the band started, but it’s unclear whether it was the music or the alcohol taking effect. Their performance was comparable to a Twin XL mattress- it’s designed for the youth, is satisfactory, but when you mature a little, you’ll want something a little more grand.

When lovelytheband took the stage, the crowd erupted, and the band members launched into their first song. Lovelytheband makes the aesthetic choice of keeping all of their song names and band name in lowercase type, accentuating their alternative sound. They looked more comfortable on stage and less like they had something to prove. They were visibly having fun, dancing all over the stage, enjoying each other and the crowd. The lead singer, Mitchy, ditched his white Adidas bucket hat for one a fan handed to him, black with a pink guitar and white lettering that read “Mitchy.”

The lighting was more dynamic as well, with lights roaming freely from the stage rather than centering on it. Lighting up the audience made everyone feel like they were a part of the show, like they weren’t just watching a moment, but instead a part of it.

About a half hour into the show, Mitchy announced that the entire stage was slightly intoxicated. Sunday was their last night with their tour manager, Topher, who would soon be leaving them for another job. Mitchy gave a speech about what Topher meant to the band- without him, he said, no tours would have ever happened. The band members played with a greater purpose in their hearts, with Topher on their mind, and with love filling the room. “We’ve got promise in the youth, we’ve got promise in the future. Because I see love here in all these faces,” Mitchy preached as the crowd roared to his words.

The music filling the Blue Note Sunday was raw and emotional, with drums hit deep in your heart, driving the tempo, guitars that flowed and reverberated off the walls in a cacophony of emotion, and raw, human lyrics from Mitchy’s calming voice. It was emotionally mature and deep, with everyone in the audience clearly feeling something.

And it was personal. During “these are my friends,” the band’s second most popular song, Mitchy came down among the crowd, high fiving everyone walking around, taking in the moment as everyone grabbed their closest friends and belted the lyrics. The band finally ended their set to their hit song, “broken,” in a triumphant moment of happiness and joy for life, with the crowd bouncing up and down to the fast tempo and happiness. It was an experience designed to make people joyful and part of something, and lovelytheband succeeded in everything they were trying to accomplish.