(header image: Matt Grubb)
Phoebe Bridgers played two sold-out shows at San Francisco’s Chase Center on October 27th and 28th, her first solo headline shows in the Bay Area in over four years (and that was at the tiny Independent as part of an Outside Lands music festival night show following a headlining set). Her last true show in the Bay was back in October 2021 at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, which at the time was her largest-production tour that included a wide variety of videos and visual elements. But even that large production pales in comparison to her Lost Weekend tour, which is flat-out one of the most beautifully-staged shows in recent memory.
As most people know by now, Phoebe Bridgers instituted a no-phone (or smart watch or even ear buds) policy at her shows, so the only way to really understand the scope and scale of the show is to see it in person. With two stages–the main stage at one end of the arena and a smaller B stage at the other end–the layout somehow made the cavernous Chase Center feel intimate the entire night. The show kicked off in near darkness, with eerie blue lights matching the color of the Lost Weekend album cover provided the barest of illumination, as Bridgers and band played beneath a giant white dome on the main stage. After the opening song “The Outside,” the lights blew up and the dome blasted fog as it started to rise up as the band launched into her first big single, 2017’s “Motion Sickness,” and the crowd just went bonkers. It was quite a visual and quite a moment, as the entire crowd on the floor had both hands in the air–device free. It felt like a show 25 years ago.
After nine songs on the main stage, the lights dimmed as Bridgers and a quartet-subset of the band (mandolin, cello, banjo, and upright base) emerged on the B stage. It was here that she acknowledged the crowd and thanked them for understanding of the no-phone policy, which she said was an effort to rebuild feelings of community at shows. She also explained the process around the new Lost Weekend record, which centered around her father’s death and the complex process of having to deal with the loss multiple times, given their strained relationship and the fact that they would go years without speaking. As she explained, she had to process his death when it happened, again two years later when she assumed they would’ve talked again, and finally again when the record came out. She then dedicated “Still Standing” to her dad and all the other “dead dad people” in the audience who’d suffered similar loss. She stood alone in a blue circle of light on the stage that evoked a halo, and whether intentional or not, the glowing halo and cone of light, along with the fog that flowed through the light, produced what can only be described as a heavenly effect. It was a stark, simple visual, but combined with the song and subject matter, it was the most strikingly beautiful set piece of the show.
After six quieter songs on the B stage, Bridgers made her way back to the main stage, slapping hands with fans on the floor on the way back. The last ten songs of the night include a cover of John Prine’s “Summer’s End,” a quick duet with her brother Jackson on “I Can’t Wait,” and letting the audience choose between either “Waiting Room” and one of her earliest songs, “Georgia.” (Poor “Georgia” has seemingly been getting trounced in the audience applause contest.)
Despite the heavy subject matter of many (if not most) of Phoebe Bridgers’ material, the show was still a joyous night as Bridgers and her riotous fans came together to process what Bridgers called a “collective grief for the communities we used to have.” Our ubiquitous phones and devices, in her estimation, have separated us, yet also have us feeling the same grief. For the thousands who were held in captive audience, it sure seemed like trading some blurry phone videos for a couple hours of collective joy was a worthy sacrifice.
