Live music review: Big Thief played to a full house at ACL Live

This past Wednesday night the hallowed Austin music venue, ACL Live at the Moody Theater, slowly filled to its full capacity in anticipation of the evening’s agenda featuring the indie-folk roots music of Big Thief. An overwhelming sense of eager anticipation was felt amongst the crowd which proved to be, for lack of a better term, “true fans” of Big Thief’s hefty catalog of music, well-known and not so well known.

To the band’s credit, the solo excursions by founding members Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek have only added to the public support, expanding the fan base. Five Grammy nominations and a 2020 Libera Award for Album of the Year certainly don’t hurt in securing recognition, while Big Thief doesn’t seem to concern itself much with winning awards as they may be with producing an impressive, prolific, evolving body of work.

Wimberly resident and a familiar face from Big Thief, guitarist Buck Meek opened the show with his band featuring fellow label mate Mat Davidson. Both Meek and Davidson (Twain) have label roots with the Austin-based Keeled Scales. Understandably, Meek’s offerings musically aren’t too far removed from the stylings of Big Thief being a founding member and guitarist, while his distinctive vocal style establishes his identity as a capable solo artist. An independent extension of what was to be the primary interest of the evening when all was said and done.

Big Thief began their set with a track titled “Ruined” an unreleased song that the band has only played live on a handful of occasions, welcomed by the fans as if they had been living with this track for years. A move that the band would repeat on several occasions peppering the set with material that has seen little light of day as of current. Stepping into “Simulation Swarm” as their second song brought the fans to more familiar territory stirring an even stronger response to their work.

Leaning heavily on material from their sprawling 20-track ‘22 release Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You for most of the set, the band all but ignored the extensive list of singles that have established them as one of the more prolific bands in recent history and are quite possibly responsible for grabbing the attention of many in the audience this evening. One might consider it a risky move by an artist whose interest lies in pleasing their audience while anticipating their needs. As the band’s set progresses, the understanding that the audience’s only needs or interests reside with whatever Big Thief is open to sharing with them. Each song it’s own personal journey curated by Lenker’s inner workings and observations, at times the heavy weight of human emotional relationships and at other times, a relatable celebration of the joy of our human existence. A vein of understanding and hope always present. 

Throughout the evening, the band members remained mostly silent between songs aside from the occasional acknowledgment of and response to the periodic “I love you!” shout from the crowd. The empty space and silence between each song were met with anticipation as to what was next. As the band slid into the sublime Lenker track “Terminal Paradise”, an example of Lenker’s full expression of her relationship with all things in our natural environment, the audience fell silent. The dance with the more intimate side of Lenker and Big Thief continued as they performed a stripped-down, restructured version of “Not” that could’ve gone on forever with little resistance from anyone in the room.

After a brief pause what followed was a blistering 13-minute sonic assault on the senses with a much different take on “Not”. The title track “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You” settled the tone and was the fitting ending to the 2-hour set. A return to the stage for a one-song encore, joined by Lenker’s brother Noah and Mat Davidson, the band gave us one last dance to send us out into the world with the humor of “Spud Infinity”. A small dose of humor and a deep mystical connection that we all need a bit more these days in this world. Big Thief doesn’t need awards.

All photos by Michael Maly

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