It isn’t often that I got into a concert blind (well, I guess in this case the metaphor might work a little better if I said “deaf” but then the figure of speech would be compromised – anyway, I think you get the point) but when two friends – whose taste in music I respect a ton – told me they were going to see Big Thief last Friday night, I signed on for the ride. I pride myself on knowing a fair amount about music and not falling into the typical 40-something trap of letting newer music slip past me unnoticed. That said, while I had certainly heard of Big Thief, I don’t think I had intentionally listened to one of their songs until last Thursday when I did a little cramming for the show. What I heard peaked my interest, but I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about how their mellow, folk leaning sound would come across at a sold-out Mission Ballroom on a Friday night.
After stopping at the local Ironton Distillery for a couple delicious cocktails, we walked the few blocks to the Mission and made it inside in time to let the warm waves of Kara-Lis Coverdale’s synthscapes wash over us for about 20 minutes. Though vastly different from the music of Big Thief, it was a great way to cleanse the room and our collective psyche and set the stage for the headliner.
About ten minutes after ten, the lights went down and the four members of Big Thief took the stage to a thunderous ovation that faded to near silence as soon as the brush like strums of lead singer Adrianne Lenker’s “ingydar” began to fill the room. The band followed-up by giving another of Lenker’s pensive solo tunes, “not a lot, just forever,” the full band treatment before diving into a pair of songs from the recently released Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You. The laid back groove of “Simulation Swarm” received a warm welcome from the crowd as a new, more Rock-n-Roll, side of the band began to emerge and build through “Flower of Blood” and the powerful, room filling thunder of “Not.” As one of my friends leaned over and whispered that this was his favorite song, an angular, dissonant, and yet beautiful guitar solo conjured up images of Wilco’s Nels Cline.
Lenker’s ethereal voice hung in the upper reaches of the vast room as they down shifted into the title track of their new album before a crew member brought Lenker a chair and an acoustic guitar and the band entered a distinctly different segment of the evening. Unreleased songs “Happiness,” “Sadness as a Gift,” and “Wanted You to Stay” led the way and I was struck by much of the show up to this point (half) was made up of songs that were not released on a Big Thief record. This is clearly a band that takes chances, trusts their material and their audience, and doesn’t adhere to the time honored (albeit flawed) tradition of playing a tried and true setlist of favorites every night (just take one look at their archive of setlists on setlist.fm). Admittedly they did lean pretty heavily on their new album and closed out the show with the trio of “Dried Roses,” “Certainty,” and “Spud Infinity” the latter featuring a guest appearance by Lenker’s brother who reprised his album role on the Jaw Harp.
After a brief encore break the band returned with a pair of songs from their first two albums – “Black Diamonds” and “Masterpiece” – which rounded our a very special night of music at The Mission. While I do feel that Big Thief might be a band better suited to a sit-down theater, the crowd at the mission was very respectful and in the end I was thrilled I took the leap on a band I wasn’t familiar with. Take my advice and join your friends for shows, broaden your horizons and you might be surprised with what rewarding experiences you expose yourself to.
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