Chvrches performed a partial concert at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, AZ on April 24, 2016. It wasn’t for lacking of trying, because vocalist Lauren Mayberry certainly did. But unfortunately for both Mayberry and the fans, she wasn’t up to the task at hand. Mayberry’s voice cracked and then gave out on her, to her significant dismay, on the third song into the show. She had been sick and reported to the crowd that she had sought medical attention at a CVS Minute Clinic earlier in the day. Instead of simply cancelling, however, she and her bandmates tried to make a concert of it anyway.
Mayberry appeared to be quite distressed when she realized she couldn’t continue with the concert, leaving the stage unexpectedly followed by her bandmates Iain Cook and Martin Doherty shortly into Empty Threat, the third song of the set. Doherty announced that “Lauren is really F&*^ing ill” prior to leaving the stage so the audience would no the reason for her abrupt departure.
The three returned to the stage after a 5-minute break and attempted to continue with Doherty on vocals. Doherty gave a spirited effort on vocals for We Sink, High Enough to Carry You Over and Under the Tide. After the band completed Under the Tide, Mayberry came to the front of the stage and sat cross-legged for a heart-to-heart with the audience. She explained that she was sick, didn’t want to not perform, but was concerned that she couldn’t continue without getting sick on stage. Mayberry was quite apologetic about having to cut the concert short.
It’s hard to know who felt worse, Mayberry or the audience. I overheard more than one group of fans leaving the Marquee expressing how badly they felt that Mayberry was as sick as she was and expressing concern for her well-being. The feeling genuinely seemed to be more of concern about Mayberry than disappointment over the shortened show. The comments on Twitter were also quite supportive of Mayberry as well with most posts expressing appreciation for her effort and well wishes for her to recover quickly.
Mayberry also announced prior ending the show that Chvrches will return to the Marquee Theatre in October and tickets for this show will be honored. A new date hasn’t been formally announced yet. If you didn’t have tickets to this show, however, you may not make it into the make-up show because last night’s show was sold-out.
Review and photos by Max Cohen
Photos © Max Cohen 2016
The abbreviated setlist included:
- Never Ending Circles
- Keep You on My Side
- Empty Threat
- We Sink (Martin on vocals)
- Under the Tide (Martin on vocals)
- The Mother We Share (Lauren on vocals)
