boygenius Bowls Over Westville

Westville Music Bowl said so long to the summer and another full season of outdoor concerts with their closing show Thursday night, headlined by none other than boygenius, a band with a name spelled in lowercase letters and stacked with uppercase talent. Singer-songwriters Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus have been touring the country in support of their first full-length album, the record, which was released in March 2023 with a variety of opening acts. On this night it was Palehound, who also released an album, Eye on the Bat, in July. 

The crowd, at sell-out capacity, consisted of families and friends and familial friends brimming with anticipation. The enthusiasm on their faces was obvious: this was the event of the season, perhaps for some of them the event of their lives thus far. Many were dressed in shirt and tie in homage to the band’s stage attire, while others lined up near a hundred deep at the merch booth to buy their own band shirt to wear during the evening’s festivities.

The atmosphere had an aura about it, something familiar yet fresh, as if the most alluring aspects of nostalgia in one’s life were set in a time and space where one could reset and recognize the beauty of the experience in real time. Plus, it was near perfect weather for an outdoor event.

The Brooklyn-based Palehound kept the crowd present and pulsing with excitement with their visceral and poetic set. Vocalist/guitarist El Kempner came out of the box with the opening song from their most recent record ​“Good Sex,” which immediately got the crowd singing along.

“On your birthday last year, I secretly put on a corset and fit it under a bathrobe to surprise you,” they sang.

Soon after a fan in the front row held up a sign that said ​“Best Birthday Ever” and Kempner called out to them to acknowledge their birthday with joy, as the crowd responded in kind.

Songs that hit both the sweet spots and the budding bruises of the heart were shared, including ​“My Evil,” a song that began with the line ​“I’ve become the person I want to punch in the face.” Kempner’s lyrics felt more conversational than confessional, as all around the crowd connected with them, the lights on their phones swaying to and fro like so many fireflies under the first burst of moonlight.

Kempner paused after the song to mention that it was ​“really special for us as a band of queer and trans people to be playing for you all,” noting that they felt ​“so lucky” to be playing with boygenius.

“We feel really held by you and the band,” they added.

The crowd continued to swell and grow during the intermission, which even saw large portions of the audience participating in singalongs to bands such as Paramore. But when the opening strains of Thin Lizzy’s ​“The Boys are Back in Town” cut through the air, everyone knew it was time. All of the band members came to the stage except Baker, Bridgers, and Dacus, who were shown on a screen singing the song ​“Without You, Without Them” a cappella behind the stage, afterward running out to take their places front and center welcomed by the near-deafening screams of their fans.

The band launched into a string of selections from their latest album, and the show became a near-constant sing along while each of the three traded lead vocals, then joined together for some of the sweetest harmonies to some of the most poignant lyrics you will ever hear. Every time another song began, a new image held the moment in time: the fans with their arms locked swaying and singing ​“I remember who I am when I’m with you” while bathed in blue light during ​“True Blue,” the swarm of camera lights and lit-up balloons dancing above the crowd’s heads during ​“Souvenir,” and most of all, the band’s capacity for lyrical and musical intensity and connection to their fans. 

At one point the video screen showed many of those fans, some with handmade signs with messages like ​“Girlcrazy 444 boygenius” and ​“You saved my life” while many in the audience screamed ​“I love you” to their favorite of the three.

And yet, one could hear the proverbial pin drop during the song ​“Voyager,” with Bridgers singing ​“you thought I’d never leave and I let you believe you were right.” Dacus announced when it was over that the song would be on their new EP, and the reception she received for that news broke the silence like thunder. 

Dacus also got tossed a carnation during the song ​“We’re in Love,” right before singing the lyrics ​“I’ll be the boy with the pink carnation.” She tossed it back into the crowd with a smile when the song was complete. 

Bridgers then came closer to the audience and spoke: ​“I have a favor to ask you. Will you put your phones away?” adding that the song was ​“really intense and its nice to look at people’s faces.” Sitting on the edge of the stage she shared ​“Letters to an Old Poet,” a song that spoke of a time that she described as ​“hell,” eventually walking down toward the audience, reaching out to them and having them sing, along with her, lines like ​“I wanna be happy. I’m ready to walk into my room without looking for you.”

But the loudest lines of the evening came at the end of ​“Not Strong Enough,” with the band and the crowd all chanting together ​“Always an angel, never a god” in anthemic fashion, the smiles on their faces as bright and beaming as the near-full harvest moon bursting out through the clouds above.

The band returned for an encore of two songs that also saw Bridgers and Dacus bring out a cake in between, in honor of Baker’s birthday, which was the next day. After having the audience sing a quick birthday song to her, she took a bite out of the cake, which the other two also ate and threw around as the second song ended. Once again, the evening became intimate while also remaining all-embracing. The season at the Music Bowl was now officially over for the year, but in a way, it felt reborn with possibilities after boygenius, like any great hang out with your closest friends.