Earning raves for their albums, Alvvays just as good live at Milwaukee Pabst Theater show

As soon as Alvvays frontwoman Molly Rankin had a chance to speak to the crowd at the Pabst Theater Monday, she called the place a dump.

Rankin recalled saying the same thing at Alvvays’ last Milwaukee show there, back in 2018, a joke she quipped Monday “didn’t land,” before she set the record straight and praised the theater’s beauty.

The truth is Alvvays may not headline places the size of the 1,300-seat Pabst — which was filled to capacity Monday — much longer.

Since dropping their self-titled debut album in 2014, Alvvays has always gotten widespread rave reviews for their releases, to the point that the accolades behind third album "Blue Rev," which made frequent appearances on critics' year-end best album lists in 2022, elevated the Canadian quintet to the upper echelon of indie rockers.

Their 78-minute set in Milwaukee Monday showed they're ready for the next level. Stage producers behind some of our biggest arena tours should be forced to study an Alvvays tour stop. Comparatively working with more logistical constraints and a much tighter budget, the beautifully constructed and impeccably implemented stage design was an inspired complement to Alvvays' many moods.

Unobtrusive cameras smartly placed around the stage fed live footage of band members that appeared on a curtain behind the players, their images saturated in muted colors, pulsating lines, swirling disco lights and other filters, between mood-setting footage of '80s circuit boards, oscilloscope screens and other visuals.

Frequently throughout the night, echoing, faded live footage of Rankin created a spectral effect in sync with her longing, haunted vocals. A beautifully backlit side shot of keyboardist Kerri MacLellan's hand, emerging from a fuzzy yellow sweater to play song-seizing notes for "Bored in Bristol" as the rest of the band fell to a hush, was a hypnotic, and surprisingly moving, moment. All in all, the stage production was abstract and warm, nostalgic and distant, dreamy and vivid — just like Alvvays' music.

And Alvvays showed through their music and stage presence that they are ready for the next level. The shoegaze-seasoned dream pop they conjured remained the main attraction, but Rankin was still an engaging conduit, quietly commanding even when she was kneeling and twisting knobs, and barely looking at the audience, while she sang the entirety of "Blue Rev" track "Very Online Guy."

"Blue Rev" as a whole suggests a creative blossoming, which was even more apparent live. No, it's not a dramatic departure from Alvvays' winning formula. No, there's nothing on the album to supplant 2014's "Archie, Marry Me" as the band's signature tune, a moon-eyed favorite in Milwaukee Monday.

But many of the "Blue Rev" songs that dominated the setlist — 14 of the 22 songs performed at the Pabst — revealed a growing boldness from the band.

Lead guitarist Alec O'Hanley set the tone with compelling and challenging reverb-drenched anarchy to kickstart show opener "Easy On Your Own?" Sheridan Riley's drums, so snappy on the album, offered more heft live, a critical component for the bursts of bouncing bliss from fans in the pit throughout the night, especially for the speed-punk-evoking "Pomeranian Spinster."

And Rankin's ethereal voice, frequently subdued on the surface, accentuated the angst for "Rev" songs like "Lottery Noises," which saw her quietly reckoning with her loneliness ("It's abundantly clear that no one's been coming for me") before steadily surging in strength, floating above the band's racket, climaxing with a potent cry after repeatedly pleading, "I want you to take a shot."

Before bidding goodbye with the night's final song, "Atop the Cake," Rankin reminisced about the first time they played in Milwaukee. They were an opener for the Decemberists at the Riverside Theater nine years ago last month, and Rankin said when the band played "Cake," she was so nervous she skipped a section of the song.

Whether Alvvays will indeed take a leap to larger venues on the next album cycle remains to be seen. But Monday's show made it clear that the days when Rankin's nerves would get the best of her are long gone.

3 takeaways from Alvvays' Milwaukee concert

• Rankin revealed that Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard has been one of her prized picks for her NBA fantasy league team for years. "He got me to the top," Rankin said proudly. "People that go for the Anthony Davises and Joel Embiids, they don't know what they're missing."

• If Alvvays could be considered dream pop, their opener Spllit was the stuff of nightmares. I mean that as the highest compliment. The New Orleans quartet’s songs were constantly shifting in surprising ways — spiky guitar shifts, jittery math rock drums, droning mile a minute spoken word. It would probably be a lot more anxiety-inducing if the band didn’t project a comically droll nonchalance.

• If you missed Alvvays Monday, you can still see them in Wisconsin before the week is up. They’re set to play the Sylvee in Madison Wednesday, and tickets are still available. 

Alvvays' Pabst Theater setlist

1. "Easy On Your Own?"

2. "After the Earthquake"

3. "In Undertow"

4. "Many Mirrors"

5. "Very Online Guy"

6. "Adult Diversion"

7. "Bored in Bristol"

8. "Not My Baby"

9. "Hey"

10. "Tom Verlaine"

11. "Belinda Says"

12. "Tile by Tile"

13. "Velveteen"

14. "Pressed"

15. "Dreams Tonite"

16. "Fourth Figure"

17. "Archie, Marry Me"

18. "Pomeranian Spinster"

19. "Lottery Noises"

20. "Pharmacist"

21. "Ones Who Love You"

22. "Atop a Cake"

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on X at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Alvvays' acclaimed dream pop shines at Pabst Theater show in Milwaukee