Photos and review by Jennie Book
@jenniebookphotography

Lauren Mayberry came to town for Bottle Rock in Napa for Memorial Day weekend, and thankfully was able to squeeze in a re-do night at The Fillmore on May 23^rd after missing the opening night of her tour there back in February due to being ill. The fans on the floor couldn’t wait, and after a great warmup set by Ava Maybee, Mayberry took the stage and didn’t look back.

The hourlong 13 song set was packed with Mayberry’s A-game. Some highlights were “Mantra,” “Shame,” and a cover of “Bitter Sweet Symphony” which people sang along to joyously. “Something In The Air” got restarted due to some glitches, which happened the week before at The Fillmore with Alison Moyet too. I love it that these performers are comfortable enough to demand a do-ever when something isn’t quite right; it makes the relationship with the audience more real and more personal to know they can both appreciate the imperfection and be on board with wanting to get it right.

In between songs we got a lot of funny Glaswegian-lilted banter, and it’s always fun when singers have a good sense of humor. It’s easy to feel connected to Mayberry with her lyrics being so first-person personal, which is a switch after being in her band Chvrches and having to write the stories and the feelings of two other people equally. And the change is a good one the crowd responded excitedly to– they were happy and singing along and seemed to be enraptured through the whole set.

The show’s second to last song was “Oh, Mother,” and I’m glad Mayberry has been playing the exact same set for this 2025 tour, because that meant that thank goodness this track was going to make it in. What a special beauty of a tune, it gets me every time.

Mayberry’s solo tour run has ended in North America, but keep an eye on laurenmayberry.co.uk for all the latest news and information.