Lights ft. Softcult in Boston 3/10

March 15, 2026

Venue

I haven't been to Paradise Rock Club since 2012. I remembered it being bigger. It is not. I knew going in that the visibility was going to be bad and that there is an unfortunate large column directly in front of the center of the stage. The layout still perplexed me. In 2012 we saw Andrew W.K. here and I think to date that is the only thing my husband let me leave early. The crowd was atrocious and spitting on each other. Stranger's bodily fluids are a pretty hard boundary. I worked through my 14 years of bad feelings to go to this show!

I'm happy to report that the vibes have been cleansed at this venue! Staff was friendly. They had a gluten free drink for me. It was $11. I will skip it next time because after I drank it there wasn't anywhere nearby to throw it away and I had to shove the can into the front pocket of my jeans.

Bonus points for their AC system. I was right under a fan or a vent or something and it was menopause-approved.

The Show

Softcult

I went back and forth on whether or not I wanted to skip their set. I generally think it's rude to skip openers and that you should give them a shot since you've paid to see them, but also it was a Tuesday after work. Just leaving the house on a weekday is a big deal for me. I once visited a friend in a coma in the ICU and the important babble that he got from me included "I just want you to know that it is a Wednesday and I am here to see you".

I should have skipped. I listened to their album ahead of time and thought it was fine, just boring. I might not like the genre? If you like a shoegaze band please recommend them to me so I can confirm.

We couldn't figure out if there was a microphone malfunction or if they were intending to sound the way they did at the show. So, um, that's how that went.

Lights

Setlist

COME GET YOUR GIRL
River
Ghost Girl on First
Running With the Boys
The Other Side of the Door
Timing Is Everything / Flux and Flow / We Were Here
Love Me
Batshit
FINAL ROUND
Piranha
LEARNING TO LET GO
Take It Easy
Don't Go Home Without Me
Damage
Prodigal Daughter
Okay Okay
Cute Without the 'E' (Cut From the Team)(Taking Back Sunday cover)
Surface Tension
Almost Had Me
Alive Again
Up We Go
EDUCATION

Impression

I love Lights. She has been my favorite singer for years now at this point. I've been a fan since probably 2011, but didn't see her perform in person for the first time until the summer. That first show is actually why I write up venue notes for myself in my blog posts now, because there is no one on earth I would go back to Brighton Music Hall to see (except for maybe All Time Low) because of how hot and packed that show was. That was one of the only times in my life that I've felt like an imminent fire code cautionary tale and I spent a portion of the show staring longingly at the fan on the other side of the room that was one while the one I was under remained still.

Anyway! This summer really felt like a dry run for this tour. She was back in a larger space, she cut out some of her chatter to play two more songs in the same timeframe, and sorted out her backing track (it felt more complimentary vs drowning her out). I am usually a "ugh, just rework your songs and hire backup singers" purist, so I hope anyone reading this understands how good of a show I think she is putting on for me to not hate the backing track.

She hit my favorites of her more current songs (Love Me, Okay Okay, Piranha) and then absolutely broke me by giving us a surprise Don't Go Home Without Me.

This song HITs when you are having a nice night out with your husband.

I told him before the show that we could take a break from seeing her after this one and...I lied. 10/10 would see her again next time.