Big Thief stole the show at The Fox

2019 has been the year of Big Thief. The indie folk-rock band, headed by Adrianne Lenker, entered 2019 with a cult following and a repertoire of critical appraise, but everyone felt like they were on the cusp of releasing something special, something different. They did that in 2019, not just once, but twice. Early in the summer, Lenker and company released UFOF, a sprawling and quiet folk album. UFOF weaves beautiful melodies with Lenker’s seemingly distant voice. It has a supernatural quality about it, as if the songs are shrouded in a mist of fantasy. Two Hands, released only 5 months later, shows another side of the Brooklyn-based band. It has an edge to it. While UFOF was distant, celestial and other-worldly, Two Hands is grounded. The lush dancing guitar riffs holding UFOF together become sharp and pointed on Two Hands. Listening to Two Hands is an intense and intimate experience. These two albums show the dueling yet complimentary sides of the band. They represent a beautiful duality of the human spirit.

I am not the only one who thought so highly of these albums. They have been met with universal critical acclaim and Big Thief has seen their popularity skyrocket. In April, before the albums were released, I saw them play to a three-fourths full Great American Music Hall, a 470 person venue. It was your typical moderately big indie rock show. Last week, there was hardly room in the back of Fox Theatre as Big Thief played to a venue, with a capacity of 2,800 people. This time, the excitement in the crowd was palpable.

As the concert dragged on, Big Thief delivered as promised. What was most endearing about the show is that, despite being in a room of 3,000 people, it didn’t seem like you were watching a big band. Big Thief clearly hasn’t let the success go to their heads. They performed with a sense of intimacy and vulnerability which is rare to see in a musical group. It was like watching your sweet aunt singing around a campfire, except if she was a rockstar.

They played mostly material off of Two Hands, with a couple of songs from UFOF sprinkled in along with a couple of old hits. Adrienne’s authenticity and depth of voice made her lyrics come alive. I found new meaning in much of Two Hands. I enjoyed some previous favorites on their new album like“Forgotten Eyes” as well as songs I had overlooked like“Wolf.” Adrienne Lenker wasn’t singing empty lyrics. Rather, what she was saying still meant something to her.

Before playing their closing songs “Contact” and “Magic Dealer,” Lenker started talking to the audience and quickly got lost in her thoughts. She talked about how the sound system is a different organism every night, and how she was having an out-of-body experience before eventually lamenting about how everyone on Earth is inhabiting a rock hurtling through space. It was a perfect and sincere way to end a night where every member of the audience felt like they took a little piece of Lenker home with them.