[ATTENDED: July 8, 2022] Lucy Dacus: Free at Noon [postponed from March 4, 2022]
I have seen Lucy Dacus quite a few times and she always puts on a mesmerizing show.
After her March Free at Noon was postponed, I decided to definitely grab a ticket for this July Free at Noon (somehow I’m more interested in doing a weekday concert in the summer than in March).
The last time I saw Lucy she said she was living in Philly, so I assume that this show was fairly easy for her to cooridnate. She was also upright (after her herniated disc injury) so this must have been an easy show to perform, too.
She stood up on stage in a white dress as blue lights filled the stage. Her band surrounding her, she began with the lovely, quiet “Triple Dog Dare.” The lights slowly brightened as the rest of her band came into view (I love watching her guitarist Jacob Blizard play)
They moved into the bouncier “First Time” (“You can’t feel it for the first time, a second time”) as the lights changed color and grew brighter. There were notably more keys in this set, I thought–from synth player Sarah Goldstone who also added lovely harmonies.
Up next was the wonderful “Hot & Heavy” catchy and thoughtful with a fantastic buildup–classic Lucy–with excellent backing vocals. She ended the first part of the set with the outstanding “VBS.” And when the song got to the line
There’s nothing you can do but the only thing you foundPlaying Slayer at full volume helps to block it out
The band totally rocked out with double bass drums from Ricardo Lagomasino and everything.
She put down her guitar for “Partner in Crime” a song that utilizes (gasp) auto-tune. Then she picked up her electric guitar for the single that WXPN was playing a lot (for a while, but not long enough) “Brando.”
Then came the new, outstanding, single “Kissing Lessons” dedicated to all the queer people in the audience.
She ended with the powerhouse of catharsis, “Night Shift.” Very few songs build from minimalist unhappiness to such glorious dismissal as this one. And boy is it fun to sing along to. The whole show has excellent bass work but it really rocks out in this song and bassist Dom Angelella is there to really hammer it home at the end.
The set was only 8 songs, but it felt great to see her again. And we’re planning to see her again really soon at the Mann with Courtney Barnett in just a few weeks on July 28.
| Free at Noon, July 2022 | Union Transfer, October 2021 | Newport Folk Festival July 2019 |
| Triple Dog Dare Ô | First Time Ô | Addictions ⇔ |
| First Time Ô | Addictions ⇔ | Green Eyes, Red Face ⊗ |
| Hot & Heavy Ô | Hot & Heavy Ô | La vie en rose ℵ |
| VBS Ô | Christine Ô | My Mother & I ℵ |
| Partner in Crime Ô | VBS Ô | |
| Brando Ô | Cartwheel Ô | |
| Kissing Lessons ⇔ | Nonbeliever ⇔ | partial setlist |
| Night Shift ⇔ | Yours & Mine ⇔ | we didn’t see the whole set |
| Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen) ℵ | ||
| Timefighter ⇔ | ||
| Partner in Crime Ô | ||
| Brando Ô | ||
| Thumbs Ô | ||
| Going Going Gone Ô | ||
| I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore ⊗ | ||
| Night Shift ⇔ | ||
| encore | ||
| Triple Dog Dare Ô | ||
| New song untitled Lucy solo. |
| White Eagle Hall, April 2019 | Johnny Brenda’s April 2018 |
| Fool’s Gold ℵ | Addictions ⇔ |
| Addictions ⇔ | The Shell ⇔ |
| The Shell ⇔ | Nonbeliever ⇔ |
| Direct Address ⊗ | Yours & Mine ⇔ |
| Nonbeliever ⇔ | Body to Flame ⇔ |
| Green Eyes, Red Face ⊗ | Timefighter ⇔ |
| La vie en Rose (Edith Piaf song) ℵ | Next of Kin ⇔ |
| Timefighter ⇔ | Pillar of Truth |
| Pillar of Truth ⇔ | Map on a Wall ⊗ |
| I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore ⊗ | Dream State…⊗ |
| Night Shift ⇔ | …Familiar Place ⊗ |
| Historians ⇔ | I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore ⊗ |
| encore | Night Shift ⇔ |
| Bobby (Alex G. song) with Fenne Lily | |
| new song untitled [“Thumbs”] Ô |
Ô Home Video (2021)
ℵ 2019 (2019)
⇔ Historian (2018)
⊗ No Burden (2016)
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