“I’m not gonna play another show for 11 months, which is awesome for me… and my nervous system… but it’s bittersweet,” says Adrianne Lenker two songs into her second sold-out performance at Union Transfer in as many nights. The vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of indie folk icons Big Thief (who’s actually been making solo records since 2006) released her critically acclaimed sixth solo album – Bright Future, which had NPR Music proclaiming, “It’s hard to make the case that she’s not among the most prolifically excellent musicians working” – this March on 4AD and had the singer/songwriter promptly hitting the road for a tour that took her across the US and Europe for a world tour that wrapped this past Tuesday, November 26th, right here in Eraserhood.
The audience was packed at least to capacity and hanging on Adrianne’s every pluck (although, to my knowledge, there were no incidents of fainting, as at Monday’s show), but the stage of the sold-out venue remained notably calm for the duration of the evening, a bit like the performances of Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England documented in D.A. Pennebaker’s Dont Look Back. Lenker was joined by violinist Josefin Runsteen and pianist Nick Hakim, 2/3rds of Adrianne’s band for Bright Future. While on a break from touring their other projects, Runsteen and Hakim (along with Mat Davidson) joined Lenker at her forest-engulfed studio, Double Infinity, in fall of 2022 to explore a collaboration without the pressure of producing an actual release. However, the sessions – which also featured co-producer, engineer, and longtime Lenker collaborator Philip Weinrobe – would come together to produce work so moving as to necessitate being captured for the studio’s first album.
While Adrianne fronted Big Thief for sold-out, post-lockdown shows at Union Transfer (two in 2021) and the Elec… err, Franklin Music Hall (2023), this is the first time we’ve seen Lenker playing the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection solo since a February 2019 show at First Unitarian Church behind her third LP, 2018’s abysskiss (and my first time since October of 2016, when she provided direct support for Margaret Glaspy at Johnny Brenda’s). However, this past Tuesday’s show only included one track off of abysskiss, ambiguously solemn and biting “symbol,” which came 11 numbers into the 18-song set, which boasted primarily of music to drop since Lenker was last in the 215.
The brunt of the 100-minute performance drew from Bright Future (along with a song that didn’t quite make the album) and the 2020, pandemic-released songs, whose brilliant “not a lot, just forever” and “anything” were performed live in Philly for the first time (closing out the main and encore set, respectively). The show began with six consecutive tracks off of Bright Future, including singles “Sadness As A Gift,” “Fool,” and “Free Treasure,” in addition to Big Thief hit “Vampire Empire,” whose original recording appears on the album and seemed to provide the most sung-along-to moments of the night.
The show included an admirable sum total of four Big Thief songs (including two unreleased), proving that Lenker is in no way dependent upon the success of the band. However, the real highlights of the performance (and Bright Future) came during that first-third of the set… The ten-ton-truck, nearly-six-minute-long LP and show opener “Real House,” in addition to “No Machine,” a traditional folk number that one could easily imagine being played (albeit in slightly inebriated form) late night in a hotel room by the cast of Pennebaker’s Dont Look Back.
*Listen for Adrianne Lenker on the next edition of Philthy Radio, 12/20 (9-11pm ET) on Y-Not Radio.
