An Evening of Gratitude with Julien Baker and Thao
Opening their doors for the first time in 18 months the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw North Carolina welcomed us back with open arms for a sold-out Julien Baker show. In support of her latest album Little Oblivions, Julien Baker has embarked on a tour throughout North America and Europe with dates through next spring and great supporting acts. This was an early stop on her tour, and one of a slew of sold-out shows, and for good reason as we were all soon to learn.
The venue was packed in from the standing room only floor all the way up to the seated second level and there was a lot of excitement in the air. Kicking off the evening co-owner Heather LaGarde took the stage to share in the enthusiasm and happiness. Welcoming the crowd and thanking them for being a part of the opening night back Mrs. LaGarde started a chain of gratefulness that spread throughout the evening. As with most venues, especially indoor venues, Covid protocols were in place for this show, and masking up was a part of it. Mrs. LaGarde thanked everyone for masking up and helping bring live music back.
Thao, of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, is the opener for the September leg of the tour and we were lucky to catch her perform on this stop. Full of groove and emotion, her set brought an amazing opening energy to the evening. It was great to see the excitement in her face as Thao thanked everyone in attendance not for just being there but for being a part of live music returning to stages everywhere. This theme of gratitude from the fans in attendance to the venue owners and especially the acts was a real feel-good moment that I believed helped set an amazing vibe for everyone involved and the night overall.
As a singer/songwriter Julien Baker most often comes to mind solo on stage and on previous albums with a contradictory sparse yet full sound. With the release earlier this year of Little Oblivions, Julien brought in a fuller band sound with more instrumentation than on previous albums and for this tour is accompanied by a full backing band. Taking the stage, a welcoming crowd cheered as Julien and the band opened with “Hardline,” the opening track from Little Oblivions, a perfect song to open with as it progresses and builds to such a fever pitch of energy, setting the tone for the rest of the set. Carrying through the early set Julien and the full band played a lot of songs from the newest album but mid-way through left to feature Julien solo as she continued to sprinkle in tracks from previous albums Turn Out the Lights and Sprained Ankle. With pauses between songs Julien continued the theme of thankfulness and expressed how important it was to everyone to be back on the road performing and once again expressed gratitude to everyone in attendance for helping make that happen. With heartfelt enthusiasm from Julien, the crowd was committed to an emotional ride from song to song through the whole set, and while you could not see their smiles you could hear them in the cheers.
It was great to see this venue roar back to life and to be able to participate in such a positive evening. I know this positive vibe will continue for the bands as they continue on tour and with the Haw River Ballroom and their amazing fall and spring 2022 lineup.
Click Here for Full Gallery of the Evening!
Setlist
- Hardline
- Bloodshot
- Shadowboxing
- Favor
- Relative Fiction
- Highlight Reel
- Televangelist
(Solo) - Sprained Ankle
(Solo) - Something
(Solo) - Song in E
(Solo) - Faith Healer
- Heatwave
- Ringside
- Turn Out the Lights
- Tokyo
- Repeat
- Sour Breath
- Ziptie
Encore:
Upcoming Tour Dates
09/14/21 – New York, NY #
09/15/21 – Philadelphia, PA #
09/17/21 – Boston, MA #
09/18/21 – Northampton, MA #
09/20/21 – Toronto, ON #
09/22/21 – Chicago, IL #
09/23/21 – Chicago, IL #
09/24/21 – Minneapolis, MN #
09/25/21 – Madison, WI #
09/27/21 – Detroit, MI #
09/28/21 – Columbus, OH #
09/29/21 – Pittsburgh, PA #
10/27/21 – Austin, TX +
10/28/21 – Dallas, TX +
10/29/21 – Houston, TX +
10/30/21 – San Antonio, TX +
11/01/21 – Phoenix, AZ +
11/02/21 – San Diego, CA +
11/04/21 – Los Angeles, CA +
11/06/21 – Oakland, CA +
11/08/21 – Portland, OR +
11/09/21 –Vancouver, BC +
11/10/21 – Seattle, WA +
11/12/21 – Salt Lake City, UT +
11/15/21 – Lawrence, KS +
11/16/21 – St. Louis, MO +
04/15/22 – Utrecht, NL %
04/16/22 – Groningen, NL %
04/17/22 – Hamburg, DE %
04/19/22 – Copenhagen, DK %
04/20/22 – Gothenburg, SE %
04/21/22 – Oslo, NO %
04/23/22 – Stockholm, SE %
04/25/22 – Lund, SE %
04/28/22 – Berlin, DE %
04/29/22 – Prague, CZ %
04/30/22 – Vienna, AT %
05/01/22 – Salzburg, AT %
05/04/22 – Padova, IT %
05/06/22 – Zurich, CH %
05/07/22 – Schorndorf, DE %
05/08/22 – Munich, DE %
05/10/22 – Cologne, DE %
05/13/22 – Paris, FR %
05/14/22 – Brussels, BE %
05/18/22 – London, UK %
05/19/22 – Leeds, UK %
05/21/22 – Dublin, IE
05/22/22 – Dublin, IE %
05/24/22 – Glasgow, UK %
05/25/22 – Manchester, UK %
05/29/22 – Madrid, ES %
05/30/22 – Valencia, ES %
05/31/22 – Barcelona, ES %
# is with Thao and Katie Malco
+ is with Dehd and Katie Malco
% is with Ratboys
