Around 7:30 pm, Alex G opened his set with “June Guitar”, a track off of his 2025 album “Headlights”. The stage design was opposite the main stage. A small circle stage with strobe lights surrounding the stage. His band was made up of two musicians; Alex played rhythm guitar. He brought on a violinist for “Bobby”. His set was simple, and he talked to the crowd often between tracks. Highlights include: “Runner”, “Harvey” and a crowd favorite, “Sarah”. A special moment shared was Alex introducing not only his band, but his tour manager, merch manager and lighting design technician, which really displayed how much work goes into all acts to put on a great, smooth show for all fans. He put on a great show to start the night off perfectly for Phoebe Bridgers’ performance.
Shortly after, around 9:00 pm, the lights go down and a huge disco ball-like structure lightly drops above the circle stage. It’s embellished with blue pulsing lights that pulse when lyrics of “The Outside” off of Phoebe’s “Lost Weekend” play. The track is just vocals with a vocoder effect, creating a worldly energy that fits the album perfectly. Shortly after, a dome on the mainstage lifts, revealing Phoebe and her band, along with a lot of fog, almost mimicking an alien spaceship taking off. She opens with a track from her 2017 album, “Stranger in the Alps,” called “Motion Sickness”, her most popular track. Phoebe is dressed in a lace gown, her iconic platinum white hair, and faux tears on her face, packed with iridescent glitter. Her face is plastered with a smile, showing her gratitude for the first sold-out show of three at Barclays Center.
The crowd is made up of mostly women of all different ages. A lot of concertgoers are dressed in skeleton garb, which fits her “Punisher” album. Lots of iridescent makeup as well to fit the “Lost Weekend” color scheme. Some people dressed as aliens too, which Alex G complimented during his set. The merchandise available consisted of records, CDs, clothing, and stickers. The clothing fit the show well, with space themes.
Her band is made up of 9 members, which range from a drummer to a banjo player. The next track is “Kill Me”, off of “Lost Weekend”. This track is having a moment on social media platforms like TikTok, which showed because most people in the crowd sang along to the chorus. The visuals behind the main stage are made up of a night sky and a live feed of Phoebe and the band.
The next tracks are “The Governers Waltz” and “Lost Boys”. “Lost Boys” is the first single prior to the album release. The crowd moved in tandem, considering the upbeat nature and catchiness of the track. The next tracks are all from her 2020 album, “Punisher”. The mood changes from blue to red. The dome above the band tilts to reveal the hollow inside, which projects visuals going hand in hand with the tracks. She plays the instrumental “DVD menu” followed by “Garden Song” and “Moon Song”.
After two more tracks, Phoebe runs off stage, and a couple of minutes later she is on the opposite circle stage, where she performs “Lost Weekend” on the ground, with a keyboard and vocoder. Then, accompanied by a smaller band, she goes into two more old tracks, “Funeral” and “Graceland Too”.
After another track, she introduces the next song and talks to the crowd. She talks about how much she appreciates everyone for putting away their phones. She explains how intimate this album is, and that is one of the reasons she wanted a phone-less show. The next track is about her late father, who had passed two years prior. She asks the crowd if their parents are conservative, and says, “My Dad was not. So I grew up knowing how to be a logical person”. She says, “My Dad would have said ‘Fuck Netanyahu ‘” (He is currently in NYC for the UN General Assembly). This is followed by “Haunted”, a track about her father’s passing.
“As Above” follows, along with an insane light show by the globe above the stage. It is hard to explain but all I can say is it replicates an alien planet exploding.
After this, she moves back to the main stage for “Bobby”, “Georgia”, “I Can’t Wait”, “On Video” (A song accompanying the new movie ‘Primetime’ starring Phoebe).
Then the most important part of the show occurs: she brings out Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker of Boygenius to play “Not Strong Enough” and “Cool About It”, from their 2023 album “The Record”. This is the first time we’ve seen all three of them play since 2024. The crowd is screaming the lyrics, and some audience members are crying, not expecting the ‘boys’ (as they call themselves) to be reunited. The last two songs before the encore play from “Punisher”, “Kyoto” and “I Know The End”, which was also very loud because of the ending bit of it, which is a prolonged scream, which the crowd joins in on very passionately.
For the encore, she plays “Lost Weekend (Reprise)” and “Scott Street”. “Scott Street” was definitely the most emotional track of the night. Many tears were shed. She thanks the crowd and exits with a smile on her face.
The band plays “Never Going Back!” while she exits.
This was my 6th time seeing Phoebe play, and the most special time. The highlight of the show was the lighting; it made the experience so intimate and almost felt like we were inside of “Lost Weekend”. I look forward to seeing what surprises are in store for the next two sold-out dates.
