All About Phoebe Bridgers’ No-Phones Concert in St. Paul
Last night was Phoebe Bridgers' second stop on her Lost Weekend tour. This tour has been talked about quite a bit because it's completely phone-free. No cameras, watches, phones, or the like are allowed. You may be thinking, Okay, well, it's gotta be easy to sneak in some photos. Well, that's what I thought at first when I heard she was doing this at her surprise show at MSG back in June, where tickets were only $1. We'd both be wrong. They actually lock away your phone before you’ve barely stepped foot into the venue. Our phones and any other devices were sealed inside Yondr pouches, which we kept on us for the entire show and only unlocked when leaving the venue.
Going into the show, I frankly only really knew two or three of Phoebe's songs. I had heard parts of a lot of them, but overall I felt like a huge poser being there.
Opening the night was Alex G, an indie rock singer-songwriter from Pennsylvania. His set was performed on the B-stage and featured a pretty insane amount of intense lighting production that I almost felt was distracting at times.
As my friend and I were walking around the Grand Casino Arena between Alex G and Phoebe's sets, we kept saying, "This is so weird. Everyone is looking up." Even the staff at the Grand Casino Arena had to have their phones away. As we were heading back to our seats, we started hearing people yelling. We were like, "That's weird. There's no way she's already on." Of course, we couldn't check the time. Turns out people were doing the wave. I don't know if I've ever seen that happen at a concert before. Because, of course, we're usually on our phones. Who needs to do the wave when you have a phone, I guess? It was kind of beautiful to experience people being forced to be present.
Photo by Matt Grubb
Okay, now the show. First of all, the set was so sick. The entire production had a very outer-space vibe, with a massive dome-like structure covering the stage that Phoebe and her band performed under for most of the show. And when I say massive, I mean massive. The dome would lift, lower, and tilt, transforming into a screen where planets, moons, and stars were projected. The first song of the night was "The Outside," the opener from her newest album, Lost Weekend. The entire song was performed underneath the dome, and we didn't actually see Phoebe or the band until it ended. As the song finished, the dome slowly lifted, lights and smoke pouring out from underneath it. Phoebe then launched straight into her 2017 hit, "Motion Sickness." From that moment on, I was completely locked in.
There is something very captivating about her aura. That may sound a little kooky, but it's hard to explain. She has a presence that immediately draws you in. And this girl can sing and make it look so easy. She also had a live string section, which I'm always a sucker for, and I thought it added so much to the performance.
The B-stage also had its own moment, rotating and featuring this giant orb-like structure that moved up and down and produced some of the most mesmerizing lighting effects I've ever seen. I think I said something similar after seeing Tame Impala, but I genuinely do not understand how these lighting rigs work. It completely baffles me. I think it was during the acoustic performance of "As Above" when the lighting coming out of that orb literally made my jaw drop. I wish I could share it with everyone, but obviously, you’ll just have to take my word for it.
Phoebe didn't do a ton of talking throughout the show, although she did thank everyone for not having their phones out. She said she knows how annoying it can be, but that she loves being able to sing to faces instead of screens. Some of my favorite moments came during "Lost Weekend," when she was alone on the B-stage and glitter began falling around her. I also loved hearing "The Governor's Waltz," the screaming finale of "I Know the End" from her 2020 album Punisher, and "Haunted" because I just love a fiddle, and that song had plenty of it. More than anything, though, you could really feel the energy and emotion in the room. I was watching people on the GA floor dancing, crying, hugging, and singing along. It was honestly beautiful.
I am now a Phoebe Bridgers fan. I can't help it.
Photo by Matt Grubb
