It had been a while since I had been invited to cover a show or to have one of my requests for coverage be approved, so, subsequently my blog posts had significantly slowed down. As more and more shows and festivals got announced, work in my industry came back in a big way, all at once. While work poured in show coverage still remained slow. And then one day I got a bite and it was kind of a big bite.
Burnout from the influx of work in the last few months, an out of practice writing schedule and being out of practice about live shows in general really stalled me. I wanted to get this posted weeks ago and thought I could bust it out between working three different festivals...
Well, here we are more than four weeks later and here it is. My first approved show coverage since before the pandemic.
When I was asked if I wanted to cover Phoebe Bridgers at The Greek Theater in Berkeley I couldn't believe it. Do I want to cover Phoebe Bridgers?! The Grammy award nominated Phoebe Bridgers? The Phoebe Bridgers who infamously smashed/didn't smash her guitar at the end of her premier SNL performance? The Phoebe Bridgers who said "Fuck ACL" after the festival cut the sound as she played the last song of her set because she went over her allotted time only to go into an hour long change over for Doja Cat? The Phoebe Bridgers who dated Conor Oburst? The Phoebe Bridgers who had one of the best albums of 2020? Indie's hottest IT girl of the moment, Phoebe Bridgers?
My answer was yes. Yes I do want to cover Phoebe Bridgers.
I couldn't for the life of me find anywhere on line that listed an opening act so I got to The Greek in Berkeley around 7:30, which was an hour after doors opened and half an hour before the show started. By the time I got my ticket from will-call, had my covid vaccination verified and waited in line to get into the venue, opening act Julien Baker was getting ready to play the last song of the set. Naturally, the beautiful coliseum of a venue was filled to the gill since it was a sold-out show and they roared when Baker announced she be playing a cover of the Rufus Wainwright with a special guest and Phoebe Bridgers herself walked out for the surprise duet. Needless to say, I was elated with my timing getting to the show that night. I'm not familiar with Julien Baker or the Rufus Wainwright song "One Man Guy" but the crowd's reaction to Phoebe joining Julien on stage to perform it sent waves of goose bumps through me. Seeing two ladies, each with a guitar, hold down the whole stage at a venue like that in front of a crowd itching for more was serenely empowering. I knew that my friend who had been waiting in line for hours before doors opened so he could get a good spot in the bowl had to be elated, too.
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| Phoebe Bridgers @ The Greek Theater in Berkeley 10/16/2021 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
And it only got better from there.
Maybe it was just me but the sold-out show at The Greek that night felt more so than the previous sold out show I had been to there which was Sylvan Esso just a few weeks before. Was there more of a jubilance in the air? Were more people on their feet? Was it a younger crowd? Was it the change of the seasons lingering all about us? I don't know what it was but it did feel more sold-out.
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| Phoebe Bridgers @ The Greek Theater in Berkeley 10/16/2021 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
The change over seemed to have come and gone and before you knew it Phoebe was on stage opening with one of her first singles form 2017, "Motion Sickness". The first few songs were just her, on stage, singing and playing. She wore what looked to be a velvet blazer, forgoing what's become her signature look of a skeleton onesie, or something of the sort.
Transfixed by her as she made her way around the stage, the crowd seemed to move with Phoebe, squealing when she strummed her guitar, when she smiled, when she gazed out into the faces who of course were gazing right back at her. They simply couldn't get enough of her and she knew it, it was painted all over her face with that effortless smile, smirk. For as sullen as her sound and vibe are, or can be, she sure does smile a lot more than one may think she would.
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| Phoebe Bridgers @ The Greek Theater in Berkeley 10/16/2021 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Just like at the Sylvan Esso show I found myself able to go right down to the front of the bowl, where the photo pit is and stand along side the barricade there with out so much as a second glance from security. Even with it's tough angles and blind corners, it's a prime location to get a good pic for someone without a photo pass or a decent camera. Looking back it's as if I was riding the tide of good times: nearly teetering on tiptoes to stay a float in the shreiking seas of sirens that came in all shapes and sizes behaving like excited adolescence at the mere sight of her, forget about recognition from her. One moment I was doing my best to get good profile photo of Phoebe putting on a fuzzy cowboy hat she plucked from a fan across the stage and the next moment I was trying to focus on her right in front of me, signing something that was from the screaming crowd around me before handing it back so she could return to the other corner of the stage, lickity split.
After that close encounter the security guards at that post more readily kept people moving. I had already gotten pics I couldn't have dreamed of getting and she played "Kyoto" early on in her set so I didn't mind moving one bit by that point.
As I moved around the outskirts of the bowl, absorbing the energy of the night the graphics behind Phoebe moved, too. The intricate graphics and stunning lights changed with every song. At some point I realized that she was accompanied by her whole band on stage and they were all wearing skeleton attire of some sort. She spoke of being back in the Bay Area and that she had family from Ukiah which caused a little stir in one area for a fleeting moment. Phoebe is personable in a way much like her smile, one might not expect it.
For as anti everything that she stands for as she is, Phoebe Bridgers actually comes off as quite personable. Maybe that's part of her allure. Indie's antisocial butterfly is magically personable. A seriously good musician who allows herself not to take it too seriously because she knows she can because her craft is that good.
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| Phoebe Bridgers @ The Greek Theater in Berkeley 10/16/2021 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Has someone's live performance ever won you over? Like you weren't a fan but then you saw them live and then you were a fan? I was a fan of Phoebe Bridgers before I was asked if I wanted to review her show but I have a new found appreciation for her, now. I went back and listened to her 2020 album Punisher after seeing her live and that's when it struck me that I like Phoebe Bridgers more after seeing her live. Phoebe Bridgers and her music are that un-cool, cool girl at school who no-one sits with but who everyone talks about.
At least, she was.
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| Phoebe Bridgers @ The Greek Theater in Berkeley 10/16/2021 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
