{"id":10488,"date":"2026-04-24T09:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/big-thief-live-at-brixton-academy-a-band-that-refuses-to-stand-still-154374\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T09:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:34:23","slug":"big-thief-live-at-brixton-academy-a-band-that-refuses-to-stand-still-154374","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/big-thief-live-at-brixton-academy-a-band-that-refuses-to-stand-still-154374\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Thief live at Brixton Academy \u2013 a band that refuses to stand still"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You can tell that Big Thief are feeling good about their four-night residency at Brixton Academy when they open with a delicate new song, \u201cWhat I Only Dream Of\u201d. It\u2019s a beautiful country number played on acoustic guitar by Adrianne Lenker, accompanied on synth by opening act Dylan Meek, brother of Big Thief guitarist Buck. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You can tell that Big Thief are feeling good about their four-night residency at Brixton Academy when they open with a delicate new song, \u201cWhat I Only Dream Of\u201d. It\u2019s a beautiful country number played on acoustic guitar by Adrianne Lenker, accompanied on synth by opening act Dylan Meek, brother of Big Thief guitarist Buck. <\/p>\n

Lenker giggles with sheer musical joy as Meek takes a solo, and it\u2019s as if the two of them are alone in a rehearsal room rather than performing in front of 5,000 people. But she knows she\u2019s being watched. \u201cStrangers\u2019 eyes bring me to life,\u201d she sings \u2013 which they do, and she does.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to play some old songs, some new songs and some in-between songs,\u201d says Lenker, before introducing touring bassist Joshua Crumbly, filling the space left by founding member Max Oleartchik. His departure reduced Big Thief to a trio \u2013 Lenker, Buck Meek and drummer James Krivchenia \u2013 and they responded by recording Double Infinity<\/em>, one of their most expansive albums yet, enriched by the presence of New York session players.<\/p>\n

This is a band that refuses to stand still. New songs pepper the set. They have debuted several on this Somersault Slide 360 Tour, and Brixton gets six. \u201cBeautiful World\u201d is a rambling track about a surreal road trip involving a dog \u2013 Big Thief songs often have a dog \u2013 with a chorus that is classic Lenker, despairing at the state of the planet while also marvelling at it: \u201cThis fucked-up world \/ Why must everything be conquered, gutted? \/ It\u2019s so beautiful\u201d.<\/p>\n

Later comes \u201cMuscle Memory\u201d, which, as the title suggests, slips into the set so effortlessly it\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s not been around for years. Then come three in a row: ferocious rocker \u201cChristmas Day\u201d, on which they sound as if they are channelling Ministry; \u201cMr Man\u201d, a power-pop number bristling with contempt; and \u201cPterodactyl\u201d, a slow and heavy crawler.<\/p>\n

The crowd lap these up, aware they are lucky to witness a band at their creative height. They are interspersed with fan favourites: \u201cSimulation Swarm\u201d from Dragon New Warm Mountain\u2026<\/em> is the first singalong, but that\u2019s cut short by Lenker\u2019s guttural guitar solo. Lenker is on a mission to shred; her distorted, epic lead on \u201cReal Love\u201d from debut Masterpiece is fantastic. A couple of songs later the band launch into \u201cNot\u201d, with all four members on vocals, until Lenker decides to rip a hole through the heart of the song with a jagged, down-tuned guitar.<\/p>\n

Big Thief have talked about wanting to record a heavy rock album before, and if the new songs are anything to go by, that could be happening soon. Other than \u201cWhat I Only Dream Of\u201d, they all have a harder edge. \u201cChristmas Day\u201d is particularly fierce, with Krivchenia \u2013 dressed in a green hooded onesie like the Green Goblin \u2013 having a fine old time behind the kit as the song crunches along.<\/p>\n

Lenker\u2019s power as a performer is more subtle. It\u2019s best appreciated with \u201cAnything\u201d, from her brilliant 2020 solo album Songs<\/em> but now part of the Big Thief canon. It\u2019s a song that the fans love and are itching to sing along in full voice, but Lenker chooses to take everything down a notch, performing it almost a capella. The Brixton crowd \u2013 who have been whooping and yelling \u201cI love you\u201d at every chance they get \u2013 are awed into silence, not daring to interrupt or accompany. It\u2019s an astonishing piece of stagecraft.<\/p>\n

By the time the main set finishes with a joyous \u201cSparrow\u201d, Big Thief have gone high and low, quiet and loud, new and old, sad and happy, but they have barely touched on Double Infinity<\/em>. That is rectified when they return with Laraaji, whose zither drones and wordless vocalising formed a central part of the album. Resplendently dressed in orange, he is greeted warmly by the crowd before the band play three songs from the latest record \u2013 \u201cWords\u201d, \u201cLos Angeles\u201d and a euphoric \u201cIncomprehensible\u201d.<\/p>\n

The latter is an anthem for living, a celebration of not giving a damn about age, dignity or whatever people say. Lenker lets the crowd sing the key couplet \u2013 \u201cLet gravity be my sculpture, let the wind do my hair \/ Let me dance in front of people, without a care\u201d \u2013 and a smile splits her face in two as they bellow back her words, happy and defiant.<\/p>\n

SETLIST<\/strong>
1 What I Only Dream Of
2 Double Infinity
3 Beautiful World
4 Simulation Swarm
5 Muscle Memory
6 Real Love
7 Shoulders
8 Not
9 Vampire Empire
10 Anything
11 Real House
12 Christmas Day
13 Mr Man
14 Pterodactyl
15 Sparrow
ENCORE<\/strong>
16 Words
17 Los Angeles
18 Incomprehensible<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post Big Thief live at Brixton Academy \u2013 a band that refuses to stand still<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You can tell that Big Thief are feeling good about their four-night residency at Brixton Academy when they open with a delicate new song, \u201cWhat I Only Dream Of\u201d. It\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1312,548,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-thief","category-live","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}