PVRIS brought a sold out show to New York City’s Webster Hall this past chilly Saturday night as part of the ten year anniversary for their debut album White Noise. While there was an interesting contrast outside the venue in the East Village between the alt-rock fans and the barhoppers celebrating NYC’s annual “SantaCon,” inside, fans gathered in anticipation of a set of songs the band rarely play live anymore.
The night began with Sudanese-American singer Dua Saleh, who was dressed appropriately for their song “pretty kitten” in an outfit complete with facepaint and cat ears (for the first few songs, at least). Their energy was just what the crowd needed to get in the mood for the night, with a healthy mix of slower songs and funky bass-heavy beats. In addition to “pretty kitten,” Saleh performed a mix of songs from their discography, including “buzzin,” “want” and “Sugar Mama.”
PVRIS took the stage right around 8:30 for a bit of an earlier night than usual, launching right into the White Noise set with “Smoke.” (“You and I” would come later on, while “Empty” would be the only song not performed off the album). Frontwoman Lynn Gunn’s voice is something incredible to witness live, and it shined early on during the second song of the set, “St. Patrick,” where the lead up to the chorus gave Gunn high note after high note to wow the audience with. “My House” came with similar vibes, as did a good portion of the rest of this part of the set. “White Noise” was a stand-out for me and is one of my personal favorites off of the album, as well as “Mirrors.” Though, what stood out to me the most the entire time was how much energy the fans brought to the show and how genuinely engaged they were, especially up in the first few rows. I don’t think there was more than a few seconds where they weren’t headbanging, jumping up and down, or screaming their hearts out, a very welcome atmosphere compared to some other shows of today that see hundreds of phones held still up in the air. “You and I” was the perfect way to round out this anniversary set, before the band left the stage for a few minutes to reset.
The band returned for the second half of the set, a compilation of songs released since White Noise back in 2014. They kicked it off with “Burn the Witch,” their collaboration with Tommy Genesis and Alice Longyu Gao. “Snakes” came next, PVRIS’ song released for the Arcane League of Legends TV series. “ANIMAL” and “LOVE IS A…” were highlights off of their 2023 album Evergreen, while “Dead Weight” and “Hallucinations” represented 2020’s Use Me. The lone song from their sophomore album All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell was “Same Soul,” a great choice in my opinion if you’re only going to pick one to play. PVRIS wrapped up the set with “GODDESS” before thanking the crowd and stepping off stage for the night.
The White Noise anniversary tour is just about complete, with only two dates left in Tennessee and Florida at the time of writing this. The only performance they’ve announced so far for next year will be at London’s All Points East Festival in August, though we hope to maybe see them on a few more lineups as we move into the new year.
GALLERY: PVRIS with Dua Saleh at Webster Hall in New York City (December 13, 2025)
