BY NATALIE RYAN
On March 21st, mehro brought the Reason to Live Tour to the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The LA native singer/songwriter brought in a crowd of all ages and walks of life to a historic venue that he’s always wanted to play.
To start the night off, King Isis, also a California native, opened with just her voice and a guitar on their first tour ever. They played songs from their second EP, shed, which came out that same night, and from the 2023 EP scales. “NVR RLLY” was the standout of her performance, an exceptional display of her powerful vocals in the emotionally vulnerable song. The short set, including two covers, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana and “Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish, was met with love and applause from the audience.
Everyone in the crowd started screaming when it was finally time for mehro to take the stage. By that time, the theater was packed and everyone was singing and moving around to the first few upbeat songs, starting with his single “dopamine”, released in October. Only two songs in, mehro took a second to acknowledge the audience, telling everyone to meet three new people, coming up to us photographers in front while we put our cameras down, exchanged names, and fist bumped.
Afterwards, mehro explained it was important for everyone to feel like a family at this show. Slowing it down after a few more songs, they introduced “hideous” off of the 2021 debut album “SKY ON FIRE”. He told a story about how someone in the past he cared about completely ignored him and made him feel worthless, which is why he wrote that song. Many times throughout the show, mehro made a point to talk to the audience often, their earnestness and genuine love for everyone showing through. I believe this is one of the reasons his fans adore him so much beyond the music, he really connects with them, being honest and vulnerable and reminding them how much they are loved and matter.
Introducing the unreleased song “cynical”, he called it a “sad little dance party”, an apt description for quite a few of their songs and overall musical mood. One of my favorite parts of the show was a beautiful cover of “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails, with mehro not apologizing for getting a little dark and shouting out Trent Reznor and Johnny Cash. Another highlight was “reason to live” which will be on mehro’s next album, out on May 2nd. He dedicated it to his mom, whom he said is one of his reasons to keep living, and May 2nd is her birthday. An unreleased song, “lady parts and mannequins” was a standout for me, with a heavy rock sound different from anything else we’d heard that night, and the crowd was loving it. The loudest audience reaction might have been towards the end during “pretty kids” when halfway through the song, guitarist Callen O’Brien and drummer Jack Maitra switched instruments and absolutely killed it. The show finished with a bang, sending the night off with the hit “exploding”. Everyone that I could see never stopped enjoying the show, singing along, and having a good time. mehro clearly cared so much about these people and the music and that made it all the more special. I would recommend going to a show even if you’re unfamiliar with mehro, like I was! You can find tour dates and tickets here.
All images of mehro and King Isis by Natalie Ryan
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