“It’s a little bit magic,” sings lead singer Adrianne Lenker on the title track of their brand-new album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. The glistening folk music of the title track, complete with icicles on the recording, becomes a hard rock stomper live, with heavy metal riffs cutting through Lenker’s vocals. I’ve had the privilege of attending some phenomenal gigs post-lockdown (shoutout to Wolf Alice, who just get better every year), but Big Thief’s fourth and final night at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire was more than a “little bit magic”.
There is a rawness about seeing Big Thief live – they’re not a spectacle but instead intimate, authentic as if you were at a band rehearsal. Lenker audibly tunes her guitars between songs, searching for the right key, yet her delicate voice never fails to bring a hush over the hall, with everyone hanging on to each word.
Spontaneous and quirky are two words that come to mind to describe Big Thief, and it is reflected in their choice of an opening act. KMRU is an ambient artist, and his half an hour set was an ear-shattering wave of nature sounds collaged on top of a drone, growing louder and more frantic over the course of the set. While perhaps an attempt at immersing the crowd in nature before Big Thief’s roots music, it proved too long and difficult for folk fans on a Saturday night.
Midway through the gig, Lenker commented on the “tension” of the crowd, a different vibe from the previous nights in London. Big Thief played to this by rolling through their catalogue of hits, opening with the impressive ‘Not’ and the classic ‘Masterpiece’. Just like Dylan going electric, Big Thief adapted their acoustic music for a live audience, exorcising the tension in a sea of rock and roll.
While the set was light on songs from Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, the highlights of the show were the country renditions of ‘Red Moon’ and ‘Spud Infinity’ – the former giving us the wonderful moment of “that’s my grandma!” and an extended improvised jam. ‘Spud Infinity’ was played at an even faster tempo than on the record, letting the crowd dance along to the refrain of “what’s it gonna take / to free the celestial body?”. Getting to hear the glorious final verse of ‘Spud Infinity’ was my favourite part of the show – the verse in question references aliens, potatoes, and elbows, and has instantly become one of my favourite verses of all time.
Songs like ‘Paul’ and ‘Shark Smile’ are slowly becoming rarities at their live shows, but the band did not hesitate to play them, with Lenker even giving in to the audience to sing a verse of ‘Real Love’. However, Big Thief were not just here to play old songs, giving us previews of two unreleased songs – ‘Oldest’ and ‘Happy With You’. ‘Oldest’ was a goosebump-inducing solo performance by Lenker that would have not been out of place on either Masterpiece and Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, drenched in enough reverb to fit on the former, yet cosy enough to be on the latter.
On the other hand, ‘Happy With You’ was a thrilling folk-rock song with only three lines, with Lenker repeating “I’m happy with you” over and over again before exclaiming “why do I need to explain myself?” The song ended with her declaration of “poison shame”, but despite the repetitive lyrics, the passion in Lenker’s vocal delivery and its sheer catchiness made it the dreamiest moment of the night to get lost in the music. Having just released a twenty-song album less than a month ago, and Lenker releasing three solo albums along with four other Big Thief records in the last six years, there is surely no band around more prolific than Big Thief.
The group closed with ‘Paul’, and were applauded off with a standing ovation from the tiered seats before returning for a lovely performance of ‘Change’, which garnered the same reception. It’s rare for a band to so convincingly win over and enrapture an entire audience, and based on Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You and their unreleased songs, they will only get even better from here. I had planned to see Big Thief almost exactly two years ago, before the pandemic, but didn’t make the show. It feels like a lifetime ago, but it was without a doubt worth the wait.
Words by Stephen Ong
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