Lauren Mayberry Puts On A 'Vicious' Performance at Chicago's Lincoln Hall

There's nothing in the music industry quite like a good Best Albums of the Year list. The ultimate opportunity to flex equally how contrarian and diverse you can be, it's also an easy way to get traffic and stir up controversy.

But just like the seasonal creep that has Christmas decorations popping up in August these days, they're rarely the best albums of the entire year. In an attempt to be a tastemaker and trendsetter, every publication tries to beat each other to the punch and a lot of these pieces are published the first few days of December.

Is it a smart move? Probably. After all, you want to take advantage of holiday shopping patterns, and a lot of that shopping starts in November. Why release an album in mid-December and only get a week and a half of inflated holiday sales when you could release it a month earlier and move a lot more units? Obviously the fact that I'm talking about physical album sales gives away that this practice was started (and was more important) in the pre-streaming era, but the tradition remains.

I only bring this up because one of the best albums of 2024, Lauren Mayberry's solo debut Vicious Creature, didn't really have the chance to make a lot of Best of lists last year because it was released on December 6, mere days after a lot of said lists were already published.

After fronting Scottish synth-wave pop band CHVRCHES across four fantastic albums, the band announced a well deserved hiatus in 2023. At the same time, Mayberry announced an upcoming solo tour with an album to follow at some point. I was lucky enough to cover her on that tour as she performed most of the material that would eventually make up Vicious Creature despite the fact that only 'Are You Awake?' had been released as a single. It was an incredibly unique experience hearing an entire set of brand new songs by an artist I already loved, but it was also frustrating because in the weeks and months that followed, none of those songs surfaced. It wasn't until the end of October 2024, a full year after her initial solo tour wrapped, that a release date was revealed.

The good news is that the album was absolutely worth the wait. The better news is that Mayberry has hit the road again in 2025 to support Vicious Creature and made a stop at Chicago's famed Thalia Hall with Cult of Venus in support.

Personally, I feel like we have a problem with hyperbole as a society in general. And don't get me started on people that say 'literally' and actually mean 'figuratively' or 'metaphorically' (David Cross has much funnier thoughts on the subject than I do). It's all reason that I would feel stupid to say I was 'blown away' by a performance. First off, this isn't one of those old Maxell commercials and I'm not being physically pushed anywhere by sound. Second...well, it's 2025. We've heard a lot of music and seen a lot of concerts as a species. It really takes a lot to have a sound that would actually make you feel like you were blown away.

Having said all that, how I felt during and after Cult of Venus' set was a familiar sensation to actually being blown away.

Shrouded in just as much of a shadow offstage as she is onstage, not a lot is known about NYC artist and activist Cult of Venus, which is always an accomplishment in this day and age. Maybe she's more comfortable letting her performance speak for her, which is an extremely smart idea considering the raw power and feeling poured into every note. Switching seamlessly between a keyboard and an electric guitar slung on her back, Cult of Venus wove a hypnotic but somehow really poppy set touching on subjects as diverse as societal violence and the unending fight against apathy (you know, some light Wednesday night shit). It was a heavy message, but delivered in a way that was somehow both delicate and maybe a little foreboding? Hard to describe, so hopefully a full length album is on the way.

To say that Lauren Mayberry is picking up where CHVRCHES left off wouldn't be very accurate. The songs on Vicious Creature sound completely different from anything that Mayberry's former band put out, despite her distinctive voice being so front and center across both projects. But gone are the synthy breakdowns, electronic beats and bass heavy enough to shake the shared wall in your apartment. In their place is an 80's drenched pop masterpiece that if I didn't know any better, I would swear Mayberry went back in time and swiped from Madonna's studio sessions. Now I know that Madonna is a musical legend and throwing around that kind of comparison isn't something that should be done lightly. But come on, listen to 'Crocodile Tears' and tell me you don't hear 'Material Girl' at least a little bit.

Since Mayberry had performed most of these songs during her 2023 tour stop, I knew that she was going to put on a great show. But even early on, as she kicked off her set with 'Crocodile Tears' and followed it up with the 1/2 punch of 'Change Shapes' and 'Mantra', I could tell this was going to be a much different performance. It wasn't just the fact that this show was in a venue twice as large as her last Chicago stop, although that did give both Mayberry and the sounds of the songs themselves the appropriate space to move and stretch out. These songs were another year older, and had been road tested and honed since 2023. This was a solo artist performing her debut album with the presence and experience of a seasoned veteran. Yes, she's had years and years of experience recording and touring with CHVRCHES, but going solo is a whole different beast and she's proven herself not only up to the task, but showing signs of a superstar breakout of her own.

Mayberry has made it a point in past interviews to mention that she won't be performing any CHVRCHES songs as a solo artist, mostly because she feels like the band isn't done, just taking a break. And other than one inspired cover (a beautiful rendition of The Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony'), she stuck to the material off Vicious Creature, which really covers a lot of ground. One thing Mayberry has always been is outspoken about all the ills she sees in society, and a lot of those themes make it into her lyrics. Touching on everything from emotional manipulation in relationships, the rollercoaster of emotions between a daughter and mother over a lifetime, gender dynamics and politics (nothing subtle about calling the current President a cunt), you'd think that a Lauren Mayberry live show might have a foreboding or anxious feel. But it's her skill as both a singer and pop songwriter that allows her to play around with potentially slippery and nasty subject matter and come up with something that makes you want to dance your ass off. But in her own words, it doesn't sound like she has much of a choice but to tackle the sadder sides of the human journey. "They're all a bit sad", she said of her songs, "but I am Scottish at the end of the day. We lead with laughter, but inside...sad sad sad. Tears of a clown, guys."

But no matter what the subject at hand was, there was no denying that Mayberry has arrived as a solo artist and is an absolute force to be reckoned with. Onstage, you cannot take your eyes off of her. Go see her on this tour because it might be the last time you can at a venue that won't pack you in with several thousand others.

Lauren Mayberry's Vicious Creature 2025 Tour continues through early March in the US before select overseas dates. Tickets can be found here.

Lauren Mayberry Setlist - Thalia Hall, Chicago 2.5.25

Crocodile Tears
Change Shapes
Mantra
Shame
Anywhere but Dancing
Punch Drunk
Something in the Air
Are You Awake?
Bittersweet Symphony
A Work of Fiction
Sorry, Etc
Oh, Mother
Sunday Best