Article and Photos by: Jason Robey

PHOENIX, AZ — Indie-pop singer, Vérité, made her first headlining appearance in Arizona at the Valley Bar, in downtown Phoenix Tuesday night, to an enthusiastic room of her fans.

The night started with a set by Tigertown, from Sydney, Australia. The four-piece pop group did a great job getting the crowd up and dancing. Vocalist Charlie Collins drew their attention easily with her smooth voice and bubbly stage presence, while her husband, Chris Collins, provided a bed of ethereal licks and chords from his guitar. The audience sang along as they bounced around to upbeat songs such as “Bullet From the Gun,” and “Make It Real,” from their debut album, Lonely Cities, as well as the single releases “Warriors” and “Paper Note.”

Following a short break, the lights went almost completely dark. Vérité and her two bandmates, all dressed in head-to-toe black, walked on the stage. As the background music got louder and louder, the crowd began to cheer.

The opening notes of “When You’re Gone,” from her first full-length album, 2017’s Somewhere in Between, drove the room into a bouncing frenzy of excited fans. Her beautifully smooth voice echoed through the room as the group ran through 9 out of the 10 songs on Somewhere in Between, as well as two of her earlier E.P.s, Echo and Living. Highlights included the recent singles “Phase Me Out,” and “Saint,” as well as her cover of “Somebody Else,” by The 1975.

Vérité, the stage name of Kelsey Byrne, performed under a wash of dim, colorful lights throughout the show, maintaining a mysterious persona, while taking breaks every three or four songs to talk to the crowd, keeping her accessible and inviting. She played for just over an hour to the packed room, moving back and forth across the stage and drawing the crowd in with the quiet, delicate side of her voice, before blowing them away with her controlled wail as she belted out the louder passages. The evening closed with “Underdressed,” which was previously released on Living, before its inclusion on Somewhere In Between.

Catch Vérité on tour in the US through October!