Photo by Ken Sears
Last time Caroline Rose played Boston was April 10, 2023. On April 7, 2024, they made their turn to Royale on the final pass of their tour to support their excellent album The Art of Forgetting. Despite touring to promote the same album in the same room and almost the exact same date, Sunday night was a completely different experience.
In 2023, Caroline Rose played The Art of Forgetting from start to finish for their main set and then came back for some other favorites for an encore. As great as the album is, it's a heavy album inspired by a difficult break up and voicemails Rose received as their grandmother slowly lost her mind. Rose still focused Sunday night's setlist on The Art of Forgetting, but played more favorites from previous albums LONER and Superstar. The first six songs were from their latest masterpiece, but they brought out "Getting to Me" for the seventh song, and the mood lightened substantially. A Caroline Rose show is a celebration during its best moments, and this time around showed that off. A particularly great moment was the one-two punch of "Bikini" and "Money." The latter brought the most dancing from the crowd, including some quite energetic pogoing.
For the two song encore, Rose chose "I Took a Ride" from Superstar, before choosing to go back to The Art of Forgetting's "Where Do I Go From Here?" and performing solo to close out the evening. It may not have been the artistic statement of last year's show, but sometimes you just need to rock out and dance your ass off, which is what we got this time around.
Canada's La Force opened the evening and was a complete delight. The band led by Ariel Engle (which consisted of her and drummer Liam O'Neil) played a laid back but intense set of indie rock meets indie pop music. It was heavy on electronics, and created a deeply moody soundscape that was perfect before Caroline Rose's set. La Force are an art pop band, and their set was accented by a video screen behind them to heighten the mood. They're going straight onto my list of must see bands for the next time they come through town.
Photo by Ken Sears
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