LIGHTS is an incredibly talented girl who plays the guitar, piano, drums, and even a keytar. Her music is very electro-pop and she describes it as “intergalactic” on her MySpace. But LIGHTS has recently released an acoustic EP simply titled LIGHTS. ACOUSTIC. In support of this new release, LIGHTS is doing a string of sold out acoustic shows. The first show in Philadelphia, PA, was packed; you had to get there early in order to get a table or even get a spot in order to see. The second she walked on stage, the crowd began yelling compliments at her. She giggled, she responded politely, and she did it very well. She immediately began playing “February Air” on her guitar and the entire crowd quickly started singing along. Between each song, LIGHTS told a story to go with the song she was introducing. She talked about songs being written for boys (or the same one), where she writes her songs (alone in her bedroom but she gets her ideas in the bathroom for those that want to know), and moving out of her parent’s house (which was 500km away but then she quickly realized we use miles and could not figure out the math). She is funny. She is witty. And most of all, she is charming.
Throughout the evening, LIGHTS went back and forth playing her guitar or a keyboard that had been set up on stage for her. She played both flawlessly. Twice she said she was going to play a song that she had never played live before and that this particular show was a very special one, thrilling the crowd even more. She played all of the songs off her new EP and ended the set with “Savior” which based off the crowd’s reaction, is one of her more popular songs. Even though she only played for one hour (plus two songs for an encore – “Fall Back Down” and “Ice”) it was just the right amount of time for an acoustic set.
Her music has a very has a singer-songwriter quality to it that raises its standards from the normal “girl pop” you hear on the radio. Having been impressed by LIGHTS’ acoustic performance, it makes seeing her live with her full band much more intriguing. Neither would be a show to be missed.
