Read previous – Preview: Julien Baker at Franklin Music Hall in Philly (9/15)
SUCH. AN. AMAZING. NIGHT.
I abandoned all responsibilities for a mid-week show featuring Julien Baker (along with a fabulous lineup including Thao and Mini Trees) at Franklin Music Hall in Philly on Wednesday, 9/15. Currently touring in support of her LP3 Little Oblivions, she brought along a full band for her biggest headlining show in Philly to date. With that thought in mind, I’d like to first give a shout-out to the employees and staff of Franklin Music Hall who kept things running smoothly. The venue has mostly shed its much maligned former reputation and is actually pretty great now. The sound and sightlines are way more decent than I remember. If only it weren’t for its busted/insufficient HVAC – but I guess you can’t have it all.
Starting off the night was Mini Trees, the moniker of SoCal-based songwriter/musician Lexi Vega. Going in blind into their set, I didn’t know what to expect. My early impression is that I’ll definitely have to dive deeper into their discography. Their breezy and upbeat tunes are my straight up jam and have hooks galore. Mini Trees is coincidentally releasing a brand new LP (Always In Motion) on Friday, 9/17. No doubt, I’ll be catching them again when they play PhilaMOCA this December (tickets here).
The last time I had a chance to catch Thao was in 2013 (performing with her band The Get Down Stay Down – post here), after the release of their spectacular We The Common LP. Thao brings an amazing energy to the stage that made me sweat even more just watching them. Thao released her latest album Temple at the beginning of the pandemic and is just now finally getting a chance to tour it. What a fantastic set it was.
You need not scroll the pages of Rockin’ The ‘Burbs very far to know how much we love Julien Baker. On Spotify, I’ve listened to a combined gajillion hours of Julien Baker and have been known to listen to “Hurt Less” (with my eyes closed) on repeat for hours on end. I’m ok, though, believe me. I may or may not have even cried a little bit during “Hardline” as soon as I entered the pit, but that is neither here nor there.
Is it just me or (and I mean this respectfully) has Julien Baker gotten legitimately buff? Like, she’s looking strong! Maybe we don’t all have to worry about her as much as we thought we’d need to anymore. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel better. In between songs, in an almost deadpan manner, Baker thanked the crowd for clapping and cheering, etc. at a barely audible volume. I have a theory – I think she does that to conserve her energy so that she can fully belt her heart out during the songs ‘coz that girl gots lungs. I, unfortunately, was not able to stay until the encore (because my drive to the ‘burbs is long and I needs my beauty sleep) but you can check out the full setlist here.
Keep scrolling to see more photos from the show. Not pictured is the beautiful vaxxed and masked audience.
