Lucy Dacus Lays Down On The Job At First Avenue, And Fans Love It

February 18, 2022 Markus Akre Concerts 0

While Covid could not stop Lucy Dacus’ rise in popularity, it sure put a brake on her plans to perform in First Avenue’s Mainroom. But this time around she would not be denied. So if a couple of herniated discs threatened her tour, she added a couch to her stage set.

First up was Indigo De Souza whose sophomore album “Any Shape You Take” brought her quite a bit of attention. First Avenue was at about 80% capacity when she took the stage, a testament to her popularity. She has great stage presence and commands your attention. Easy listening, she is not 🙂 – she does not let you drift away to other things. You get pulled back to her with tempo changes, vocals. Some of her songs disintegrate into seemingly random bits only to find their way back together for the finale. The crowd clearly did not expect elevator music and the cheers after the last notes of “Real Pain” faded were as loud as I have heard at First Ave.

Set List: Late Night Crawler / Bad Dream / Home Team / WAWGDN / Always / Way Out / Sick In The Head / Real Pain

Lucy Dacus walked on stage slowly, reclined on the couch, feet elevated over the edge, guitar in hand and a microphone hovering over her face. She showed us she can rock out laying down with “First Time” and I realized something special was happening. Taking a lot of the visual stimulants out of a live performance intensified the music (at least for me). I often feel a drop in energy when I put my camera down after the first 3 songs. A loss of intensity, I start shows right at the artists’ feet in the pit and stare at them though zoom lenses. It usually takes me a couple of songs to get that intensity back, but last night never waivered. Maybe people insisting on listening to music in dark rooms are right?

Visual stimuli or not, the sold out crowd at First Avenue was captured by the experience as much as I was.

Set List: Triple Dog Dare / First Time / Addictions / Hot & Heavy / Christine / Vbs / Cartwheel / Yours & Mine / Home Again / Going Going Gone / Thumbs Again / Brando / IDWBFA / Kissing Lessons / Night Shift