SOUNDTRACK: PHOEBE BRIDGERS WORLD TOUR (May 26-June 4, 2010).
Phoebe Bridgers is a fascinating person. She sings the most delicate songs. Her voice is soft and almost inaudible. Her music is simple but pretty. And her lyrics are (often) devastatingly powerful.
And yet she is really quite funny. Both in interviews and in her visual representation of herself.
Her logo when I saw her was a fascinating faux death metal style of her name. And now with this world tour, you can see in the poster all of the metal bands referenced in the logos. (There’s Slayer in the kitchen for instance).
And then there’s the basic joke of this world tour. No one can go anywhere, so she is travelling her world: kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom (second concert by popular demand??)
The first show last night raised money for Downtown Women’s Center.
After some introductory talking and even a magic show (!) from Ethan, her producer, she played five songs. Midway through she agrees that the set was a bit of a downer, especially opening with these two sad songs.
“Scott Street”
“Funeral”
Then it was time for two new songs (and an electric guitar).
“Moon Song”
“I See You”
Before coming to the end, she delayed, because she was having so much fun (and raising so much money). So she showed us around her kitchen and pitched the kind of guitar she was playing, the kind of capo (quite expensive!), and her Target-purchased kitchen ware.
She ended the set with a boygenius song, “Me and My Dog ” dedicated to her dog Max who died at the age of 17 last year.
The first night of her tour was a success. Tonight is night two, from the bathroom.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You can watch it here.
[READ: May 27, 2020] “California Ghosts”
I don’t usually read profiles of artists I like. But every once in a while, one strikes me as interesting.
Phoebe Bridgers is a pretty fascinating character (see the above part for some details). So I though this might be an interesting profile. And it was.
Bridgers was brought up in Laurel Canyon and came of age listening to emo. I love that the writer has to define emo for the New Yorker crowd, “a sub-genre of punk focused on disclosure and catharsis.” That’s probably the most concise definition of emo I have read.
She writes that Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes) is one of emo’s most beloved practitioners. Phoebe grew up listening to him and then met him in 2016. He says when he first heard her he felt like he was reuniting with an old friend. In 2018 they made Better Oblivion Community Center together.
At Carnegie Hall (where she wore a tea-length black dress and high to Doc Martens), she sang a song with Matt Berninger of The National. (more…)