By Taylor Lang | Photos @finitelightphotos for TOP8 Scene | Feb 17, 2026
Lights Live in Calgary - Come Get Your Girl Tour
If you Google Lights (the artist – not the other things), you’ll soon be reading an exhaustive list of accolades and accomplishments spanning back 15-odd years to the glory days of the emo era.
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You’d be looking at photos and interviews of an artist in flux, both in hair and musical styles, ever in search of a central sonic “theme” that always seemed to be just one genre over. You’d be catching up on a talented songwriter and performer who has drifted back and forth between pop, electronica, synth-rock, and various concentrations of all three at once.
​Call it reinvention. Call it change. We call it longevity.
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The energy at the sold-out Valentine’s Day show at Calgary’s MacEwan Hall isn’t just contagious. It’s also upbeat, positive, and welcoming: couples of every label safely inhabit every corner. Parents and kids go over the songs they can’t wait to hear. An older man sizes up the merch booth, turning to his wife to ask what she would like. This is the small and friendly world that Lights has helped create – a place where you can just be whoever you are, surrounded by soon-to-be-friends and sure-to-be-great music.
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Ontario indie-grunge rockers Softcult kick off the evening – serving up big meaty riffs that sound like there are four guitarists instead of two, anchored by the thunderous drums and capricious vocal energy of siblings-turned-bandmates Phoenix and Mercedes Arn-Horn. In a solid 45, they bring the audience through a litany of songs from their new album, When a Flower Doesn’t Grow, as well as some of the older material that earned them their indie-DIY reputation across Canada and beyond. The fuzz is intense and ominous, but perfectly counterbalanced with the Shirley-Manson-esque lead vocals – equal parts righteous anger and soul-shattering introspection. They’re not the main act this time, but with a presence like this, it’s easy to imagine that it’ll change the next time they enter the city limits.
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When they’re done, the anticipation really starts to grow. The bathrooms fill and empty. The merch line swells and fades. The crowd surging to the barricade gets noticeably thicker. At one point during the changeover, 'I Want It That Way' by the Backstreet Boys rings out through the house speakers; nearly a thousand people sing along in unison, hitting the notes in harmony. Everyone is here for the vibes, and there’s no denying it.
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Finally, the speakers fade. The crowd erupts. The stage, shall we say, Lights up.
Ripping right into her newest release – 'Come Get Your Girl', from A6Extended, and the namesake of this entire tour – Lights’ first minute on stage sets the tone for the rest of the night. The suspiciously catchy hooks and deft vocal craftsmanship promise that it’s only going to get better from here.
If that’s not a message we all need right now, what is?
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Next up is an older and more familiar track – 'River', a mainstay that some may know from the acoustic versions that have lived online for the last decade and a half. But today, it’s all about the volume and the power – and Lights delivers both in spades, showing off her eye-wateringly impressive vocal chops to close out the song and remove any doubt about her place as an exceptional performer, player, and songwriter, all wrapped into one.
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With the backing band running like clockwork, another trio of tunes spanning multiple albums is crossed off. At the end of 'You’re Killing Me', the crowd work really begins. Lights leaves the guitar behind and goes rogue with the microphone – weaving through a medley arrangement of older hits from Siberia and Skin & Earth, culminating in a surprisingly intimate performance of 'We Were Here' that has her in the crowd, holding hands with eager fans, singing directly to them and experiencing an uncommon moment of absolute interaction. It’s rare for an artist of her following and calibre, but it sells that moment so much better than anything else could.
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However, it is only a moment – and after that, she’s back in top form, delivering some of her biggest synth-heavy collab tracks, turning the venue into an impromptu dance club. 'Love Me' and 'Batshit' flow over the crowd, followed by a three-pack of more mellow beats that eventually segue from 'Take It Easy' into a standalone solo performance of 'Long Live' that pays homage to the once-Valerie’s emo & alternative roots. For most artists, it would come off as saccharine, but for Lights, it’s a recognition of where she’s come from and the authenticity that got her on this stage in the first place.
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As the third act of the show picks up with another recent hit, 'Damage', it’s clear that this undercurrent of self-reflection and acceptance – an “if then created now, it can’t be all that bad” outlook, maybe – is the defining, stable theme of Lights’ entire career and musical journey. She’s not ashamed of where she began or her childhood influences, though it may be en vogue for millennials to feel that way these days. Similarly, she’s not apologetic for who she is now or where her journey will go in the future. She just is who she is, musically and otherwise.
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This confidence is on full display during 'Prodigal Daughter', as she physically lies on the stage and sings (flawlessly, of course) while in faux ecstatic throes. But the theatrics aren’t the only place to see it: it’s in the hands held with fans, the genuine joy when people sing along to a deeper cut, the vulnerable and full-chested screams that close out 'Damage' and inspire goosebumps in anyone close enough to witness it. But to sum it up in the most opportune way, this self-assuredness is apparent in the way that a smile persists on her face, even when the songs themselves are sad – it appears even after the paranoia of 'Surface Tension' or the ego extinction heard in 'Alive Again'.
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This is an artist who wants to be here. That would sacrifice almost anything to be able to do this. An artist with a story that must be told to an audience that can’t help but listen. And as she returns to the stage to deliver the final encore ('Up We Go' and 'Education'), it’s obvious that – at this event at least – they’re both getting exactly what they were looking for.
SCENE SNAPS
