Typically, I don’t find myself to be a big concert-goer. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them, I’m either turned off by the fact that not many artists perform in Southwestern Virginia (where I go to school) or I simply cannot justify the high ticket prices. However, when Phoebe Bridgers announced her new tour after nearly six years of no solo music, and one of the stops happened to be in Nashville while I was already going to be there for fall break, I knew I had to go. Just before this, Phoebe had been doing secret pop-up shows all around the country, and I unfortunately was not able to get the tickets to her Madison Square Garden pop-up, which was absolutely devastating.
The interesting thing about Phoebe’s concert is that, recently, she’s been doing her shows strictly with no phones or recording technology allowed. In a world where, before a concert, you know pretty much everything from every possible angle being blasted all over social media, it’s really weird to just not know what to expect. Yes, I had a general idea of what songs may or may not be played due to Spotify setlist playlists created by fans and other discourse online, but other than that, I was able to stay pretty much completely in the dark about the show. It’s kind of funny, honestly, since the last time Phoebe toured was as a guest on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and, despite me not seeing the show or watching the recorded movie on Disney, I still feel like I knew every part of that concert.
I’m really glad I went in blind because for most of the show, I sat there in absolute awe. She opened the show by emerging out of a giant dome with her band and sang “Motion Sickness,” which the entire arena knew (as it is one of, if not her most popular song). There was a major emphasis on her new album, “Lost Weekend,” since it did just come out a couple of months ago, but there was still a good variation of her other work. She played some of my favorite songs from “Punisher,” which is my favorite album of all time, including “Graceland Too,” “I Know The End” and “Moon Song.” Since some of these songs are super slow and sad, and nobody in the area had phone flashlights they could shine, a lot of people flickered their lighters as she sang.
Like most artists, Phoebe has “surprise songs” which she switches out on a show-to-show basis. My crowd got really lucky, we got to hear “Waiting Room,” one of her most anticipated suprise songs. Furthermore, we got to hear “On Video,” her new single featured in the new movie “Primetime,” which she also acted in. She brought out Christian Lee Hutson, to play Isaac Wood’s verse on “Best Dressed,” a song exclusive to specific variants of the “Lost Weekend Vinyl.” Yes, Nashville Night 2 did get Maya Hawke, musician and actress best known for her work in the Netflix hit series, “Stranger Things,” which I am very sad to have missed out on, but I’m still perfectly happy with the uniqueness of my show.
The best part of the show, however, was the visuals. The lights that went throughout the arena during the beat drop of “Lost Weekend” was absolutely breathtaking and left me and my friends in awe. There were more lights throughout the performance, such as moon visuals being brought out during “Moon Song” and spotlights during “As Above,” but the “Lost Weekend” light show was by far my favorite. I’ve seen so many drawings and animations recreating it online, but nothing will beat experiencing that in person. What made it even better was that the arena was pitch black with no flashes of cameras to overpower the light show.
Now, you may be wondering, why doesn’t she allow phones at her concerts, especially if she has in the past? I wondered this as well, because during her pop-up show tour, I could understand how she wanted to keep her unreleased songs a secret. However, she explained it very well at her concert. The songs she writes are raw, deep and, a lot of the time, about things that are really hard to talk about. Performing in front of a crowd of thousands of people at a time is already a nerve-wracking experience, but performing songs about the most painful experiences of your life in front of thousands of people is an even bigger deal. Now, imagine doing that, and at the same time, everyone is flashing cameras in your face and screaming? A lot of her music makes me really sad when I listen to it, so I can only imagine her life’s experiences that inspired her to write those songs, and how she must feel when performing them.
While getting into the arena was rough due to the no-phone policy (and in my opinion, poor management on Bridgestone Arena’s part), all in all, I am really glad to have been able to take that experience without my phone for a few hours. It was really refreshing being in a room with thousands of strangers, all disconnected from the world and connected through the music that we love. For those of you who complain about the no-phone rule at Phoebe’s concerts, just don’t go! Save your ticket for someone who will immerse themselves in the experience.