When supergroup boygenius disbanded for the second time after touring in 2023, Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker went their separate ways. Many assumed this was to work on their own solo projects, but after months of silence and speculation, Julien Baker announced her Autumn solo tour.
In early 2024, playing her first solo live shows since 2022, Baker sold out 5 shows at EartH, Hackney in London, and I was lucky enough to attend her monumental closing night.
For fans of boygenius that are unfamiliar with Baker’s solo work, it’s to be noted that tracks like ‘$20’ and ‘Satanist’ showcase the belting highs of her sound, whilst ‘Stay Down’ is more reflective of her raw and vulnerable lyricism. Bearing themes of addiction, love and mental health, Baker incorporates all three of her records Sprained Ankle, Turn out the Lights and Little Oblivions into an emotionally gutting hour and a half set.
Fans lined up down the grey streets of Hackney, illuminated by glowing high-street LED shop signs and car brake lights from the queuing work traffic. Huddled together in the late-November cold as the sky darkened, I can’t think of a more perfect (albeit coincidental) way of setting the mood for a Julien Baker concert than to immerse oneself in the dreary, English winter weather. At 7:30, doors opened, and fans started to trickle into the venue, bustling with excitement and donning Baker’s green carabiners.
Supporting Baker’s London shows were Northampton-based artist Katie Malco, and Derry-based artist SOAK (Bridie Monds-Watson). Malco was first onstage, immediately setting the emotional temperature for the night with tracks like ‘Brooklyn’ and ‘Babette’ — the latter of which she was joined by collaborator SOAK. SOAK’s own set was equally stirring, comprised of mostly unreleased tracks. Having collaborated with each other already, it was great to see both Malco and SOAK’s talents as solo artists, and onstage together. Similar in their emotional tones, it’s clear that they were perfect fits for this tour, and I highly recommend each of them to anyone waiting eagerly for new music from Julien Baker (or boygenius for that matter).
At 9:00pm the lights went down a third time, and the intimately packed room went silent with bated breaths — but where the five-foot tattooed guitarist was expected to finally make her appearance, the crowd burst into screams and giddy gasps when it was instead Lucy Dacus who walked onstage.
Standing patiently at the tall microphone and grinning ear-to-ear, Dacus greeted the audience, guitar in hand. “Thanks Julien for letting me use your crowd as practice,” she said, before playing a new song.
As if that wasn’t a treat enough, Julien and her band emerged onstage as Dacus confessed they had another song to play – “Nightshift” from Dacus’ second record Historian.
The atmosphere in the room had reached a peak already, with 1,200 fans screaming the final chorus, and Baker’s set hadn’t even begun yet. Once Dacus, Baker and the band had left the stage to prepare for the rest of the night, a collective disbelief buzzed throughout the crowd, subsiding just in time for Julien Baker to make her second appearance of the night.
A shift in tone was much needed from the previous excitement Baker’s surprise guest evoked, and the opening tracks “Over” and “Appointments” gave exactly that. If there is one thing to be revered about Julien Baker as an artist, it’s her incredible vocal range and powerful performances, which only hit harder seeing her in the flesh.
Baker’s set was packed with a diverse range of her entire discography, from debut tracks like “Sprained Ankle” to more recent fan favourites like “Favour,” and even a few new tracks in the mix, “High in the Basement” and “Middle Children” — a pleasant surprise for fans in hope of a potential new record.
Some highlights included “Crying Wolf”, a quiet moment where Baker took to the keyboard, facing predominantly away from the audience — one of my personal favourite tracks, this was made even more special in its isolation from the rest of the set’s guitar-led performances. “Bloodshot” was another highlight, exploding with energy in its latter half as Baker thrashed through the flashing stage lights. Her back-to-back run of “Even” and “Claws in Your Back” was as equally beautiful as it was devastating with Baker’s staggering vocals, and followed by the climactic “Hardline”. Finally, Baker’s surprising yet welcome encore of “Everybody Does”, as it was transformed completely as a live performance and given a brand new tone, was a fitting end to the set and left many speechless when the lights eventually came up.
Despite being known for her reservation onstage, there were moments of banter between Baker and her band, and a rapport that emerged with the audience as the show went on. As Baker’s quips with the audience bled through between tracks, so did her awkward-but-charming humour, and despite the tonality of some areas of the set, the atmosphere in the room grew very comfortable.
One of my favourite things about Julien Baker as an artist is her ability to give her absolute physical all to a performance: slinging guitars over her shoulder, swinging on her mic stand, and lashing around during heavy instrumentals. However the real magic comes through her capacity to show vulnerability through these performances, as Baker’s physicality bears the emotional load of tracks like “Tokyo” and “Claws in Your Back.” I can name no other artist who comes close to the catharsis of experiencing Julien Baker live, and it was truly brilliant to see her music come to life on stage.