Live Review: Crosses at Hollywood Palladium

Making it their twentieth stop of the Familiar World Tour, the three person ensemble Crosses took the stage at Hollywood Palladium on March 6. The group not only sang and played their setlist of eighteen songs, but put on a performance filled with theatricality and classic rock elements, leaving the audience in awe.

The combination of the trio’s stage presence and musicality established with their opening song “Invisible Hand” was foretelling of a great night. Throughout the entirety of “Invisible Hand” an audience of eyes followed Moreno as he made his way across the stage, ending the song by stopping to the left of center stage, leaving only his silhouette to be seen. 

The excitement of the audience replaced their anticipation awaiting the band. It carried into the group’s performance of “This is a Trick,” its punchy beat complimenting the electronic ostinato about a minute into the song. Following this was the performance of “Ghost Ride,” making it the second song from their 2023 album Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete. With the song’s synthesized beat and harmony, the audience took in the mellow ambiance that provided a nice contrast from the high energy of the first two songs. 

Faking out the audience with the intro to the sixth song, the audience was then ecstatic when they realized the next song they would be hearing was “Vivien” from the group’s beloved album Permanent Radiant. While the reoccurring trend of playing songs released in 2022 took place, the performance of “Initiation” also brought back the trend of blue lights displayed towards the beginning of the night. If that wasn’t enough to make a performance memorable Moreno’s scream definitely did. 

Towards the latter half of the evening, the audience got to witness more of the trios musical genius in even the most simplistic aspects of their performance. “Cadavre Exquis” is a great example of this, the repetition of C sharp and D (a combination that usually comes off as nails on a chalkboard) added an eerie but mellow constant to back up Moreno’s vocals. Another example is something which sounded like an amplified snap used in “Protection” which allowed the audience to move in accordance and snap along. 

If the smiles on people’s faces weren’t enough to indicate the success of the performance, the conversations various groups had about probably not being able to speak the next morning says it all. 

Setlist 

1. Invisible Hand
2. This is a trick 
3. Ghost ride 
4. Pleasure 
5. Found 
6. Vivien 
7. Initiation 
8. Pulselagg 
9. Thholyghst 
10. Sensation 
11. Cadavre exquis 
12. Girls float + girls cry 
13. Protection 
14. The Epilogue 
15. Bitches Brew 
16. Big Youth 
17. Telepathy 
18. Option