LOS ANGELES, CA- When I first heard music from Glaare’s debut album, I was instantly hooked. I basically grew up on dark wave, and their sonics hit a really sweet spot for me. Though there weren’t too many female fronted dark wave bands in my CD collection back in the day (I was really into Depeche Mode and The Cure), Siouxsie and the Banshees and Cocteau Twins had permanent spots on whatever playlists I created. I was definitely looking forward to improving the female to male track-list ratio by adding a few Glaare tracks to those playlists.
Kicking off a regional west coast tour in support of “To Deaf And Day”, Glaare headlining set at Resident in downtown Los Angeles. Right before the band launched into their performance, Rachael Pierce (lead vocals), addressed the crowd to let us know that in the days leading up to this performance, her father had passed away. She implored us to be present and wanted this evening to serve as a memorial service for the recently deceased.
It was a powerful statement, which was followed by an even more powerful performance. Once the lights dimmed and the fog machines started pumping out a thick hazy mist, a dark and somber mood was instantly set. As the band pulsed those familiar dark wave musical themes, and the lights- the gloriously temperamental lights- flickered from total darkness to heavenly white, Rachael seemed to lose herself in the moment, allowing her music, and not the tragedy of recent events, to dictate the mood of the rest of the evening.
Her normally soulful voice seemed to evoke even more feeling on this night. There’s passion in the recordings, but there was something emotionally tangible with this performance. Though I’ve embedded video below, the audio therefrom hardly captures all the depth of what I felt came from Rachael in that moment in person.
They played every song from the new album, and also included a cover of The Cranberries “Dreams” as a tribute to the also recently deceased Dolores O’Riordan.
When the performance ended, I took a step back to ponder the type of will it takes to embody the mantra “the show must go on” when something like death rears its ugly head. I found myself in awe of Rachael’s strength; being able to give such a powerful performance despite the circumstances, and clearly she and the band were ready to embark on their tour which they appropriately called the “Tour Of Heaven”.
The Tour Of Heaven wraps up in Portland tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they head back out on another regional tour to hit up bigger venues later in the year. I suggest you keep an eye on this one.
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LIVE CLIPS
