When walking up to the Pabst Theater 10 minutes before the doors were opened, the lines at both entrances were beginning to wrap around the sides of the building, and well-dressed people all around were buzzing with excitement. The doors opened at 7pm, and the pit filled up immediately. The rest of the packed venue slowly started to fill out over the hour as people were counting down the seconds until they saw the dream pop sensations.

A little bit past 8pm, the openers, a band called SPLLIT, confidently strode out onto stage. Once they settled and began playing, a couple things stood out. First, they’re all very talented, but the bassist in particular was nothing short of impressive to watch. Her hands flew up and down the neck of the bass at the speed up light, and she knew how to hold a tune. The drummer also, there was one song where he had a shaker in one hand and was playing the drums with his other hand which had the whole crowd enthralled. Their music was truly satisfying to listen to, as the heavy bass and guitar were balanced out by syncopated talking to the track. This was the band’s first time in Milwaukee, and we’re hoping to see them again soon.

It took about 30 minutes to set the stage for Alvvays as the crowd was excitedly anticipating their arrival. When the band walked out, the room was filled with cheering and screaming saying, “I LOVE YOU MOLLY” (the frontwoman of the band). Alvvays set up, immediately broke into “Easy on Your Own,” and steadily cruised down the setlist from there. Live on stage, Alvvays sounded exactly like they do on their recordings, if not even better. Molly Rankin’s clear tone was hypnotizing, and the dreamy instruments that were perfectly synced up with one another were too. Behind the band was a large screen that bounced between live footage from hidden cameras around the venue showing them with some sort of distortion or effect over it, trippy and slow moving patterns, and, of course, a flag with the band’s name on it. The set consisted mostly of songs from their newest album, “Blue Rev,” but they still played a handful of their classics. 78 wistful minutes later, the band wrapped up and played three more songs for their encore that had the crowd screaming and dancing along. Though it was just yesterday, we’re ready for Alvvays to come back next time!

I never thought that one of my favorite nights in college would be a Monday night at Pabst Theater, but goes to show that Alvvays is always worth seeing.