LIVE REVIEW: Big Thief @ Alcatraz
BY Jordan Grob
You read that right — no, ‘Big Thief’ is not the band’s crime that landed them in Alcatraz, the prison. We’re giving you a concert review of a band that’ll come to Madison this summer, asking the question: should you go to Big Thief’s concert? On April 23, Big Thief took to the stage of Alcatraz in Milan, Italy. Having been to quite a few concerts, I can easily tell when a band is phoning it in or strives to put on a fun spectacle. However, Big Thief diverges from both of these options in a far more impactful way. After their first few songs — ”Shark Smile,” “Shoulders” and “Masterpiece” — the band asked the lighting crew to turn up the lights above the audience. After the lights had been cranked up to the maximum power, singer Adrienne Lenker asked to dim the lights to a “candlelight-like” level for the rest of the performance so that the band could see the faces of who they were playing for.
And just like the yellowish glow of candlelight, Big Thief’s indie folk sound is warm and comforting — simple but impactful. Though they performed under fuschia and blue lights for the majority of their performance, it was as if they transported the audience to a midnight campsite blanketed under twinkling stars. By asking to keep the lights on, it was as if the band were inviting the audience into the concert as an equal, erasing the social boundaries between performers and onlookers. This wasn’t just a concert, but an artistic performance — which reminded the audience that they’re valued individuals within the (simulation) swarm.
As the band continued through their set, this observation was solidified in how they creatively diverged from their studio recording versions, whether it was a simple tempo change in “Contact” or in the complete switch from the dreamlike original of “Warm Mountain I Believe in You” to an indie-rock version with a lengthy guitar solo near the end. And later on, for their performance of “Vampire Empire,” they informed the audience that they were going to be trying out a completely new arrangement that they had just come up with backstage. While Adrienne sang the words with the intonation of spoken poetry, guitarist Buck Meek, bassist Max Oleartchik, and drummer James Krivchenia harmonized in the back a chorus-like fashion of “ohs” and “ahs,” bringing a completely different feeling to the song.
After that, it wasn’t hard to discern the band’s artistic intent. Here was a group of musicians that refused to simply go through the motions or put on some needlessly extravagant performance. Between songs, they remained mostly silent, other than the occasional shy “grazie” towards the audience. This really allowed the audience to focus on the music and the weight of its intentions — just as the band seemed to be doing themselves.
With their lyrics and melodies emulating a kaleidoscope of joy at the human experience, it gave me a moment to look around the venue. To my left were a set of new parents with their baby in comically large headphones sitting absolutely mesmerized in its stroller, and to my right was a woman in her young twenties with her nonno — who I later learned was a big fan and was brought to the concert as his 80th birthday present. Dispersed through the crowd, I watched Milanese couples hold each other tight, swaying softly to songs like “Change” and “Born For Loving You.” Every audience member was standing with rapt attention, taking in and reveling in the emotional weight of Big Thief’s lyrics, each with their own unique interpretation of what transpired.
So if you’re free on July 27, you appreciate intimately homely concerts from artists with folksy sounds and you are a lover of lyrics that find great profundity in the simple things, then steal away to the Sylvee and watch Big Thief weave together a magical experience.