At concerts nowadays, you’re more likely to see a phone screen than the actual artist — but not at last night’s sold-out Phoebe Bridgers Madison Square Garden show.
Thousands of audience members lining up to store their devices away in a Yondr pouch wasn’t for no reason. The indie folk-rock artist hasn’t released a solo project since “Punisher” in 2020, and the surprise tour she’s been on for the last few weeks has given audiences the opportunity to hear new material with the caveat that they can’t post about or leak any of it before it’s out. Even journalists couldn’t bring notepads or quote lyrics.
“I’m trusting you,” Bridgers told the audience at one point during the night. She also joked that “if any of you stuck an Apple Watch up your ass to record this, please don’t post it.”
This MSG show — her nineteenth and last on the surprise tour — was remarkably different from its predecessors. Since a surprise flyer advertising a Bridgers concert went up in Roswell, New Mexico on May 8, she’s only traveled to venues capped at 300-500 in small-to-medium sized towns and cities, each of which fans have deduced contain histories of UFO sightings. To those who could find out day-of and make it to a venue before the box office opened, $50 tickets were theirs. But MSG’s concert was announced on Monday in partnership with music platform TIDAL, offering fans the chance to enter a digital lottery to win $1, $5 or $20 tickets.
All of the proceeds benefit the Community Justice Exchange’s Immigration Bond Freedom Fund, paying for individuals’ release from ICE custody while their cases are processed. Bridgers thanked everyone for their donations during the show, adding that she “fucking hates ICE idiots.”
Despite the obvious change in venue capacity at MSG, the show maintained the intimate, stripped-back feel fans have described during the tour’s previous shows. A small stage housed a 1970s living room for Bridgers, guitarist Christian Lee Hutson and pianist Nick White. Bridgers and Hutson sat on a tan couch adorned with glow-in-the-dark blankets in front of lava lamps and a flickering TV that occasionally displayed eerie found footage like railroad tracks and rolling hills. Behind the band sat glow-in-the-dark, space-themed paintings, and projections of starry skies enveloped them and the audience while Bridgers sang her new music.
The set began with some familiar songs, including “Motion Sickness” and “Kyoto,” giving fans a rare opportunity to hear them stripped back. During the surprise song portion, she simply asked “What do you want to hear?” then laughed, said she knew what she was going to play and went into “Waiting Room,” a cult favorite she wrote when she was 16. While the crowd sat for the duration of the show and didn’t yell along to her music, I and fans around me joined in softly during the outro to sing “Know it’s for the better.”
It’s impossible to feel completely unplugged at any live experience, but Bridgers’ show was a necessary reprieve from that. Instead of sticking phones in her face or texting, fans just sat and listened attentively, especially when she played eight new and unreleased songs from her new project — one of which she debuted live at MSG. In adherence to the no-leaking policy, all I’ll say is that they’re as devastatingly beautiful as the rest of Bridgers’ discography, maintaining her indie folk sound with a few treats, including a song she introduced as a “country song,” which was my absolute favorite of the night.
With a strong, resonant voice in a venue that could swallow individual artists whole, Bridgers sang about the past, alluded to extraterrestrial themes and reflected on the ways love shifts over time. In-between songs she told stories about how her late father had conservative parents and “learned to defect,” dedicating one song for those in the crowd that have done the same. Hutson’s harmonica, the occasional bass drum tap and White’s synthy keys added warmth to Bridgers’ melancholic tunes, leaving a lot of room for audiences to guess how these tracks will sound in their polished, produced forms on the actual album.
Near the end of her set, Bridgers revealed to those in the room first that she’d announce a tour today, insisting that we’ll see her in the fall. I’m sure these songs will be yours very soon.
