Phoebe Bridgers is an indie rock artist from Los Angeles, California, best known for her work as a solo singer-songwriter and guitarist. Bridgers and her band completed the 24th stop on their 2021 Reunion Tour this Thursday, October 21, at The Greek Theatre in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. Fans piled into the theatre, filling every seat in the venue. The crowd eagerly waited for the show to begin, many donned in skeleton costumes—a classic Phoebe Bridgers look since the release of her 2020 studio album, Punisher, in which Bridgers is dressed in a skeleton costume on the album cover.
The show began with a relaxing performance from Charlie Hickey, another indie rock singer-songwriter from Los Angeles.
As Hickey began, fog spread throughout the stage, and red and yellow stage lights swept back and forth along with the music. The lights reflected off of the fog, creating a calming glow throughout the entire stage.
The audience cheered and swayed along as Hickey and his five-piece band—consisting of a keyboard, two guitars, a bass guitar and drums—played through their calming set.
For the last two songs of Hickey’s set, Phoebe Bridgers made an appearance, coming on-stage to sing two duets with Hickey. The final song of the set was Hickey’s 2021 single, “Ten Feet Tall.” The crowd intently listened as the relaxing music filled the space.
After a short break, it was time for Phoebe Bridgers to take the stage. The crowd cheered in excitement as the seven band members entered the stage, all dressed in glow-in-the-dark skeleton outfits, other than Bridgers, who wore a renaissance-style dress with a glam skeleton ribcage corset on top.
Bridgers played guitar for most of the songs during the set unless she was on vocals alone in order to walk about the stage. She was accompanied by a second guitarist, a bassist, a violinist, two keyboard players, a drummer, a pianist and occasionally a trumpet soloist.
Bridgers began the set with her hit song “Motion Sickness.” The crowd jumped and sang along, excited for the show to be starting after so much anticipation. Throughout the set, the screen behind the band displayed an image of a children’s pop-up picture book during most of the songs off the Punisher album. For example, during “Garden Song,” the book opened to a page displaying a bridge over a river in the middle of a dense forest. During this song, green lights pointed upwards from the floor of the stage gave the illusion that the band members were walking through nature.
The audience swayed and sang along throughout the show—the chilling in-unison vocals filled the venue.
Towards the middle of the set, Bridgers set down her guitar to sing her song “Punisher” closer to the audience. She walked all the way to the front of the stage so the audience could feel every somber emotion that went into the music. The song concluded with a loud note that abruptly cut off, along with all the lights in the venue flashing off suddenly and dramatically.
Next, Bridgers played, “Halloween,” a perfect song for this late-October performance. The stage lights glowed purple and orange, and the storybook behind the band displayed a cemetery scene complete with a ghost holding a bottle of beer. Bridgers and her second guitarist, Harrison Whitford, pressed their foreheads together while singing the lines, “I’ll be whatever you want,” sharing one microphone.
Later on in the set, some technical difficulties arose before the band could play “Chinese Satellite,” however a staff member named Mark came on stage to fix the issue. The whole audience chanted, “Mark!” over and over until he left the stage and the show could continue on.
The audience sang along during every song, the lyrics resonating with them in new ways as they could now sing with the artist herself.
Towards the end of the show, the moon began to appear directly above the stage, coincidentally coming in to view during “Moon Song.” The storybook on the screen behind the band displayed an image of Griffith Park itself, with an image of the moon rising above. Many audience members noticed this coincidence and cheered—this image had become a reality.
Bridgers played some songs off her debut album, Stranger in the Alps, towards the end of the set, including the song “Funeral.” Bridgers introduced the song by saying sarcastically, “This is another cheery one,” and the audience laughed. Bridgers’ chilling vocals left the crowd speechless.
Before playing the song “Me & My Dog,” Bridgers announced that her mother was in attendance and reminisced upon memories of coming to see shows at The Greek Theatre when she was younger with her mother. “This is totally a dream come true,” said Bridgers.
Bridgers played “I Know the End” before exiting the stage. The heavy bass drum shook the theater floor, and the audience began jumping wildly. The image of a house displayed behind the band began to catch on fire, and the fog was released rapidly to appear like smoke. Red and orange lights flashed about the stage, mimicking flames. As the song came to a close, the screen behind the band switched to an “Error” screen and the band exited.
The audience cheered for an encore, and Bridgers delivered, entering the stage alone with a guitar to play a cover of Bo Burnham’s “That Funny Feeling.” The audience sang along and waved their arms in the air. Soon, the full band joined in one at a time until the entire band played together for an incredible finale to the night. The audience and band members danced along until the end of the song, and the show came to a close.
Set List:
Encore:
That Funny Feeling (Bo Burnham Cover)
Photo Credits: Boston Lynn Schulz
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