Review & setlist: Adrianne Lenker killed us softly at the Shubert

Fans who came to the Big Thief singer’s show Tuesday to feel deeply did not leave disappointed.

boston.com | November 13, 2024

Adrianne Lenker, with Suzanne Vallie, at the Shubert Theatre, Boston, Nov. 12, 2024

“Thank you all for being here. This is a real blessing,” Adrianne Lenker said softly with a smile.

The indie folk singer-songwriter played the first of her sold-out, two-night stop at the Shubert Theatre on Nov. 12. She walked onstage with pianist Nick Hakim and violinist Josefin Runsteen — both musicians are featured on her latest album “Bright Future.” They sat down as if around a campfire, ready to tell solemn yet beautiful stories and life lessons.

Lenker is no stranger to trauma and pain. She was born into a religious cult and raised to soar to childhood stardom by her father. She told Pitchfork that she wrote her first song at 8 years old about being angry “like the weight of everything on my shoulders. That’s something I’ve always tended to do.”

The artist rediscovered a love for music when she attended a five-week program at Berklee at 17, and returned on a full ride for college. She then moved to New York City and started folk rock band Big Thief with Buck Meek, recruiting drummer James Krivchenia and bassist Max Oleartchik.

Lenker’s music feels like bumping along a dirt road in an old Ford truck, staring out the window and reminiscing about love found and lost again. Her expressive fingerpicking and hushed vocals bring a sacredness to her practice. She feels thoughtfully, though she remarked that she couldn’t seem to find the words to express how it felt performing in Boston.

“Do you remember running?/ The purity of the air around/ Braiding willow branches into a crown/ That love is all I want,” Lenker began on her nearly six-minute track “Real House.” The hushed lullaby reflects on moving frequently as a child and truly seeing her mother. The audience stood still in time — all eyes were on Lenker and you could hear a pin drop. A glow seemed to emanate from her guitar, wrapping the audience in warmth and collective understanding.

Lenker harmonized with Hakim and Runsteen on “Sadness as a Gift,” soaring to a stunning emotional build. Runsteen’s bow swept across the strings, dancing through a sorrowful melody. It was hard not to feel a pit in your chest as Lenker sang with scrunched eyes.

Her lyricism is profoundly poetic. My best friend, who is a writer, listens to Lenker because her words could stand alone with their own harmony. Lenker is a true artist — she ruminates on the acceptance of fleeting moments and the beauty and pain of being human through impressionistic explorations.

She doesn’t take anything for granted and romanticized her time living in Boston. “I remember sitting on the Charles and looking out and thinking, ‘I’m gonna figure out how to do laundromats and stuff,’” she remarked. Lenker recalled living in the attic of a house filled with Harvard graduate students and immersing herself in the artist lifestyle. She confessed that she got into charcoal nude drawings, which the audience met with chuckles.

Hakim and Runsteen left the stage, giving Lenker time to show off an impressive full sound with just her voice and an acoustic guitar. She played Big Thief’s “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You” with bursting staccato and vast crescendos. Lenker found an appreciation for aging on “Incomprehensible,” bringing an almost tactile quality to the discovery.

She welcomed her friend and songwriter Mary Elizabeth Remington on stage for a duet and solo. They harmonized about long lost love on “Dresser Hill” as two old friends coming together in soulful expression. Remington’s a capella solo felt a little out of place, but she had an impressive tenor range with clear tone.

Hakin and Runsteen returned for “not a lot, just forever,” a flowing river of toxic love. “Not a lot, just forever/ Intertwined, sewn together/ As the rock bears the weather/ Not a lot, just forever,” Lenker sang.

On “anything,” she painted a loving portrait of a relationship in stop motion. Every frame seemed to soar by in the empty space. The love wasn’t big; it was found in seemingly insignificant moments like falling asleep in a partner’s car and doing laundry.

“And I don’t wanna talk about anything/ I don’t wanna talk about anything/ I wanna kiss, kiss your eyes again/ Wanna witness your eyes looking,” Lenker sang with her eyes closed, reflecting.

Lenker wore blue light glasses because the bright stage lights were bothering her. “I think they’re doing something,” she said. “It feels a little softer.” Many fans listen to Lenker to feel deeply. After the rush of grief and reflection at her concert, I left feeling a little softer, too.

Setlist for Adrianne Lenker at Shubert Theatre, Nov. 12, 2024

• Real House
• Sadness as a Gift
• Free Treasure
• symbol
• Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (Big Thief song)
• UFOF (Big Thief song)
• Simulation Swarm (Big Thief song)
• two reverse
• Incomprehensible (Big Thief song)
• Dresser Hill (Mary Elizabeth Remington cover with Mary Elizabeth Remington)
• (Unknown) (Performed only by Mary Elizabeth Remington)
• not a lot, just forever
• forwards beckon rebound
• heavy focus
• Donut Seam
• Time Escaping (Big Thief song)
• Do You Realize?? (The Flaming Lips cover)
• anything

ENCORE:

• Masterpiece (Big Thief song)
• Steamboat