Canadian electropop duo Purity Ring made a very rare appearance in Los Angeles at The El Rey Theatre last Thursday night. In support of Coachella this year, Goldenvoice created Localchella, a month intimate show extravaganza from almost all artists. Purity Ring happened to be one of those bands playing at Coachella. I discovered Purity Ring this time last year from a co worker who insisted on blasting their debut album Shrines at all times. The album quickly grew on me instantly and 1 year later I witness the brilliant live performance from Megan James and Corin Roddick (Purity Ring).
I arrived and was inside the El Rey Theatre by 10:25PM, 5 minutes before the main event was about to start. While the LA crowd, which was mainly filled with hipster and cool kids, sipped drinks and froliced outside I power walked to the front by the right speaker. It was about 10 feet from the stage and before I knew it the speaker was pounding the bassline to a few ASAP Rocky songs, followed by Taylor Swift's new single. The crowd was singing, it was embarrassing, but quickly the lights went down and there appeared through the smoke was Purity Ring. Their set was interesting, all smokey with what looked like cacoons propped up by poles. To the right of the stage was something of an old ancient kick drum. Listen to the album Shrines and you will understand the vibe they created. Corin's space was filled with electronic items including an ipad mini control and interactive colored light pods.
'Crawlersout' starts the show, and what a show it was. Purity played their Shrines album in almost it's entirety. My personal favorite 'Grandloves' was definitely better live than the album version. Another favorite performance was the band's cover of Soulja Boy and Esther Dean's song 'Grammy'. The dark and ominous synth electro music hypnotized the crowd throughout the whole show. If you missed them I suggest you make it a priority to see Purity Ring next time around. This was a show where you forgot about everything else in the world and was just able to connect with good music. Watch some footage below.
Grammy
