Standing on stage and gazing at the packed venue halfway through the set, Adrienne Lenker told us that she was sending us “all the love in her heart,” and that she “could feel all the love in the room.” I honestly believe her. Not one person in the crowd around me wasn’t grinning and staring at the stage with complete adoration in their eyes, myself included. Big Thief is a band with a discography of gut-wrenchingly sad and existential songs, songs that will rip your heart out and piece it back together—often in under five minutes. Walking into The Anthem on October 24, I expected to leave with my makeup ruined by at least a couple tears. Surprisingly, the opposite happened.
The band’s new album focuses much more on the broader experience of being a person, with songs about love and growing up. Fans around us knew most of the songs from the new album, and were swaying along to the freshness of an album that wouldn’t make them sob in the Anthem’s pit. Before the show even started, a couple of groups in front of us were singing “Vampire Empire,” a song released in 2023. We were pretty close to the barricade, but as opposed to other concerts I’ve been to, the people around us weren’t pushy or loud. Rather, they sang along and made new friends, yelling and clapping just as much for the opener as they did for the headlining band itself.
Every person that stepped onto the stage throughout the show seemed as genuine as an artist could be. The opening band, Lomelda, had amazing chemistry, despite it only being their third time performing together. The lead singer, Hannah Read, referred to their fellow band members as their best friends, solidifying in my mind the fact that they were the right opener for Big Thief. Their music was folk-esque and insanely fun to watch, full of energy. At one point, a fan actually got Read’s attention to suggest a song; when the artist didn’t immediately remember it, the fan began to sing it themself, spurring the band into actually playing it. Moments like those remind me of the joy of live music and the ways that a healthy fan-artist relationship can impact the vibe of a concert.
“Masterpiece,” “Vampire Empire,” and “Spud Infinity” truly filled the room with the love that Lenker mentioned. The band’s stage presence was incredible through the show, and it was obvious that they knew the response that the songs would get when playing them. “Spud Infinity” especially struck me, not only because it elicited spinning, dancing, and scream-singing—none of which I thought I’d see at a Big Thief concert—it also fell in line with the themes of their new album despite having come out in 2022. “Spud Infinity,” just like so much of their new album Double Infinity, gave Lenker a chance to sing about her personal connection to the universe in a way that only she can. Her lyricism shone through alongside the playful instrumentals that the song highlights to create one of my favorite moments of the set.
At larger venues, it can be less common (in my experience) for the band to interact with concertgoers. Adrienne Lenker broke that assumption. Not only did she stop mid-song to check in on a fan that needed water, she also spoke to the audience numerous times during the set. Her speech matched that of her songs, and made me reflect on where her incredible lyricism comes from. At one point towards the end of the show, she addressed the crowd, expressing regret over the fact that she couldn’t see everyone’s faces and asking who wrote songs and who played guitar just like she did. After the cheering in response had subsided, she said it was “wild to think of all the different stories and all the things people bring to this room, all of our lives led up to this moment.”
My only gripe doesn’t actually fall into the lap of the band’s music itself, but the lighting onstage. The past couple shows I’ve seen at The Anthem have had incredible lightwork (Men I Trust, Alex G). However, the lights cast onto the stage during both Big Thief and Lomelda’s sets didn’t add anything to their performances, which I think they really would have benefited from. Each set contained a lot of instrumentals and some slower music, which were beautiful but could have been uplifted further by less stagnant lighting.
The band closed off the encore with a new song titled “Beautiful World.” Its message about seeing the beauty in a “fucked up world” was refreshing considering the current political and social environment in the United States, and hit especially hard being in D.C. Big Thief put on an incredible show, and truly did send love to everyone in the room.
