Few bands in modern indie are loved quite as ferociously as Boygenius and that passion is on full display tonight (August 20) as the trio hold their first UK performance. As the sun sets over London’s Gunnersbury Park, Thin Lizzy’s ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ blares out of the PA and a huge roar that feels far larger than the park’s 25,000 capacity swells up from the crowd.
Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus – “the boys”, as they’re affectionally called by fans – aren’t even on stage yet. Their backing band take up their positions as the screams continue, until the music fades and the screens take us backstage to find the trio huddled around a microphone. As they open the show with the a cappella ‘Without You Without Them’, the cacophony quickly hushes into fervent hush – respectful, soaking up every last note that they sing.
Right now, seemingly every sizeable concert is followed by an online discussion about lost concert etiquette but, tonight, Boygenius’ show feels almost utopian in the way crowd and band co-exist in this space. There are no projectiles rocketed at the stage, just pure, unadulterated adoration. The amount of times the show is stopped mid-song for fans to get help does become increasingly worrying as the pauses pile up, but the attentiveness the band pay to those in front of them is admirable.
Despite these halts in the service, the atmosphere tonight (from where NME is stood, at least) is reverent and full of unity. Throughout, the crowd reacts almost as one, holding mass singalongs to the setlist’s louder, heavier songs and reverberating with appreciative cheers as Bridgers headbangs her way through the ending of ‘$20’ – which also finds producer Catherine Marks join the band on stage to recreate her on-record, intense scream – or, later, when Baker beautifully belts out ‘Anti-Curse’.
Quieter songs like ‘Cool About It’ and ‘Souvenir’ are savoured gently and almost silently, making it feel like the whole park has been put under the band’s spell. The bewitching is only broken when lines that clearly mean the world to people arrive, like ‘Revolution 0’’s “I don’t wanna die / That’s a lie”. Then, the space becomes electrified with emotion as the words are yelled back at Boygenius.
When, towards the end of the set, Bridgers asks everyone to put their phones away for ‘Letter To An Old Poet’, the crowd obliges instantly. “[This song] is really intense and about maybe my least favourite part of my adult life and it’s nice to look at you in the face when I’m singing it,” she explains, but even without that justification it feels like Gunnersbury Park would have responded as she wanted. What follows is perhaps the most poignant performance of the night, silence falling over the crowd once again, save for the few excited screams the microphone picks up as the musician moves off stage and closer to the barricade.
The reasons why Boygenius elicit this kind of reaction are many, but tonight highlights a few. As well as the sheer brilliance in their songwriting and performances, there’s a vulnerability that hits you in the gut each time one of the musicians cries out powerful notes and lines. There’s also a sense of community that’s been built around the trio – and within it itself. Before ‘Anti-Curse’, Baker tells the crowd that she’s “voraciously clinging to life” because she’s found herself with “the right people” – aka her fellow boys. It’s a touching moment that provokes yet more impassioned screams from the mass of people in front of her.
The feeling is clearly mutual for many in the audience and, as MUNA – who performed earlier in the evening – join Boygenius on stage for a closing ‘Salt In The Wound’, fireworks burst up into the night sky, beautifully exploding like the intensity of emotions in the park below.
Boygenius played:
‘Without You Without Them’
‘$20′
‘Satanist’
‘Emily I’m Sorry’
‘True Blue’
‘Cool About It’
‘Souvenir’
‘Bite The Hand’
‘Revolution 0’
‘Stay Down’
‘Leonard Cohen’
‘Please Stay’
‘Favor’
‘Graceland Too’
‘Boyfriends’
‘Me & My Dog’
‘We’re In Love’
‘Anti-Curse’
‘Letter To An Old Poet’
‘Not Strong Enough’
‘Ketchum, ID’
‘Salt In The Wound’
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