Last Friday night, Scottish trio CHVRCHES hit the Aragon Ballroom stage in Chicago in celebration of their fourth studio album, Screen Violence. While it was already mid-November and many of us have moved into the festive and cheerful holiday mode, CHVRCHES brought us all right back to spooky season with this performance.

As Donna Missal warmed up the first fans to arrive to the show, more and more fans filtered in and packed the ballroom to the brim before Lauren Mayberry and Martin Doherty took the stage with their live bandmates. Just ahead of the Chicago stop, the band had announced that unfortunately Iain Cook had tested positive with Covid-19 and had to quarantine, but luckily the show was able to continue on with assistance from the group’s touring crew member, Dave Simpson.

Following an eerie and spooky introductory track that sounded like it came straight from a horror film score, the band began their cinematic performance with “He Said She Said,” the second song off the new album. I’ve always admired the fun and captivating energy that CHVRCHES, and particularly Mayberry, have presented onstage, but this return from them felt even more epic and developed than previous experiences. Mayberry kept all eyes glued on her as she twirled around the open stage while singing to the likes of “Violent Delights” and “Science/Visions” as colorful lights engulfed her and projections played out on the massive screen behind the band. Despite one of their core bandmates being unable to join them, Mayberry, Doherty, and Simpson kept their sound polished and on track the entire show.

During their set, CHVRCHES kept things extra theatrical with a couple of costume changes from Mayberry, including one where she swapped out her outfit to a t-shirt reading “FINAL GIRL,” which is the name of one of the songs on 2021’s Screen Violence. The song pays homage to the final girl troupe we see in many horror films, and to play into that sentiment, Mayberry even covered herself in fake blood after singing “Final Girl.”

Of the new album itself, Mayberry has said she went into the writing process with the idea of writing something escapist, adding, “That felt freeing initially, to have concepts and stories to weave your own feelings and experiences through but in the end, all the lyrics were definitely still personal.” While that concept comes across listening to the album, the live show from CHVRCHES truly drove home the escapist aspect as they hooked us into an entrancing production that played out in front of our eyes.

Check out our photo recap of the evening below, and see where you can catch CHVRCHES on tour next here.