Live Music Review: LANY at Rock City

Words: Sam Nahirny
Photos: Sam Nahirny
Thursday 07 March 2019
reading time: min, words

Our Sam got down to Rock City for a night of serious dream pop from LANY. We hear there were even rose petals...

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LANY are the perfect band to showcase the power of growing an organic fanbase.

Having released two albums, and a bunch of EPs and singles, this is actually the LA natives' first headline show in Notts (having played a support slot at The Bodega way back). But ya wouldn’t be able to tell - for one because there’s freakin’ loads of people here. And for two, it felt like everyone in the room was part of a beautiful little show, with practically every song screamed back (not always in perfect pitch, mind).

Genre-wise, LANY are a little bit dreamy pop, a little bit indie, a little bit electronic, and a little bit piano-y ballad. They’re a mixed bag of basically every great pop trait you could ever want, and they’re rolled up into the perfect package accompanied with blissful melodies, and beautiful aesthetics too.

With most songs being about heartbreak, relationships, love, and things in and around those topics, you could see that the lyrics resonated with everyone in that room. Tears on faces. Friends holding one another. So many couples with their arms around one another, you’d think they were filming a Hollywood rom-com. But, ya know, it was cute.

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Playing pretty much everything a super fan would ever want - from deep cuts off the old EPs, through to the heart-wrenchers on the new album Malibu Nights - LANY pair that with a stunning visual production including a stage dive with rose petals, and you’ve essentially got a pop dream. And that’s what LANY are: a proper pop dream.

Which is something you don’t get too much anymore. And that’s probably why they were able to pack out Rock City on a Wednesday night in March, despite having never charted over here. They just connected, and I’m not sure you can really ask for more than that. 

Anyways, before I get too reflective and write a LANY-inspired album, go catch them on tour whilst you still can - I have no doubt they’re gonna be arena megastars in the very near future.

LANY played Rock City on Wednesday 6 March 2019

Rock City website

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