Phoebe Bridgers
w/ Alex G
Bridgestone Arena; Nashville, TN
October 11, 2026
Review by Philip Obenschain. Photos by Matt Grubb and Wes Ellis, courtesy of the artist.
Phoebe Bridgers is far from the first artist to host a phone-free tour- Nashville’s own Jack White, even, is doing the same right now- but I can’t think of another tour as hotly anticipated, as widely discussed, as Gen Z-skewing, or as firmly in the zeitgeist as Bridgers’ Lost Tour that has opted to go totally phone and device-free. Phoebe’s first solo trek in more than three years, in support of her first solo album, Lost Weekend, in more than six, the beloved indie folk and pop singer-songwriter had an incredibly busy and fruitful period in the interim. She joined Taylor Swift for a handful of shows on the biggest tour of all time, the Eras Tour; she released a debut full-length with her supergroup boygenius, which catapulted them to superstar status, earned them multiple Grammys, and led to one of the hottest tours of 2023; she began a low-key romance with comedian and musician Bo Burnham; she made her proper feature film debut in recent Robert Pattinson-led Primetime; and she spent the better part of the last couple of years quietly crafting what would become Lost Weekend, with a whole host of talented friends and collaborators.
First emerging from hiatus back in the spring, initially for a run of tiny pop-up shows, announced day-of via handbill, and beginning in Roswell, New Mexico (kicking off an alien theme which has persisted throughout this record cycle), Phoebe has made this album era device-free from show one, mounting her comeback largely through word of mouth and social media hype, but without a single live video clip or unapproved photo to speak of. Announcing the tour and subsequent album not long after, with Lost Weekend arriving in August, Bridgers has returned as a bigger artist than she ever was before- by far- seemingly not due to any one exact factor, but a combination of that unprecedented boygenius success, that Eras Tour exposure, some newfound celebrity, the virality of that initial tour rollout, and, likely, that long space between records, both building anticipation and likely attracting some new, younger fans who’ve never had a chance to see her live (also, Lost Weekend is just damn good, but this tour was locked for arenas well before it dropped). All of that is to say- Phoebe was not an arena-sized artist during her last album cycle, and she’s returned able to sell out not one, but two shows at Bridgestone Arena, which is just a stunning accomplishment to witness.
I’ve been a massive fan of Phoebe’s since I first heard Stranger in the Alps almost a decade ago, and I wish I had been dialed in just a little sooner, so I could’ve seen some of those mid-2010s, pre-debut album shows at intimate local spots like The Stone Fox, The High Watt, The Basement East, 3rd & Lindsley, and Grimey’s. By the time I first caught her live, in 2018, she had already graduated to The Ryman, a show with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus which would double as the first boygenius show ever (not really meant to be a full-time band, the trio had recorded their first EP simply as some songs they could play together live on that tour). I saw her again, six months later, with side project Better Oblivion Community Center (featuring Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst) at Cannery Ballroom, and a couple more times post-pandemic, in support of her sophomore LP Punisher, at Louisville’s Forecastle Fest, the aforementioned Eras Tour, and with boygenius in Centennial Park at Re:SET Fest, in 2023. I tend to be hyperbolic in my reviews about artists I really like, but I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that I consider Phoebe Bridgers to be one of the singular greatest songwriters of my generation, and her music- though coming from vastly different life experience than my own- to be some of the most intensely relatable and profound of any artist making music today. I love Lost Weekend, and while I wish I could still see Bridgers in spots as small as The Ryman (that pop-up tour brought her to Memphis and Chattanooga, but not Nashville), I was nonetheless floored at a chance to see her again anywhere, especially going in almost blind, not having seen one second of this show posted anywhere thanks to the phone ban (a real rarity for major tours these days), and leapt at the chance to see her second night at Bridgestone.
After arriving at the arena and marveling at the outdoor merch line stretched down the block (the inside merch lines were almost as massive too), I locked my phone in its Yondr pouch and made my way to my seat, surrendering my sense of time for the next few hours, and being forced to live in the moment and be present for the show ahead. Even with so many fans waiting for merch, the room was already packed, and I took note of the glowing, igloo and UFO-esque dome on the main stage, with a massive curtain doubling as a projector screen behind it. With no phone to scroll, I listened to the house music and looked around, noting an eclectic mix of fans (though certainly skewing Gen Z women), some rocking Phoebe-inspired fits like skeleton costumes or tailored suits. It wouldn’t be long until opener Alex G took the stage, performing from the B-stage in the back, his band situated in a circle, up close and personal with the crowd (the floor was divided into an upper and lower pit, with fans opting for one or the other when buying tickets, putting them either in closer proximity to the main stage or B-stage).
I’m a big Alex G fan, and loved seeing him last year at The Ryman. Though scaled down a bit production-wise by necessity, this performance didn’t feel too dissimilar. He played for roughly an hour, which I found delightful, but might have felt overlong to anyone unfamiliar with his music (as I’ve seen a loud minority of complainers express on TikTok). As a friend and collaborator of Bridgers’, I feel like they have a great sonic throughline; both very distinctive artists, but cut from the same high-minded, substantive indie cloth (Alex co-wrote and produced several Lost Weekend tracks, as well). With a setlist skewing heavy on fan-favorite earlier LPs Trick and DSU, Alex and his band played through tunes like “Mary,” “Forever,” and “Bug,” ending, of course, with “Sarah,” which drew enthusiastic applause. His lo-fi, indie vibe is inherently not as suited to an arena as a cozy room (like Fran’s Eastside, where he played a secret show the following evening), but it still sounded great, and he took many opportunities throughout the set to compliment Nashville, thank Phoebe, and introduce and give props to his band and crew. What appeared to be a sort of fiberglass enclosure surrounded the stage, and on it, a variety of strobing, dynamic lights added some cool production flourish, which was a well-designed use of space on the tiny stage.
During the roughly 30 minutes in between sets, the house lights stayed low and moody, and that dome on the stage continued to glow, like a UFO docked but ready for takeoff. I really appreciated seeing the phone-free crowd fill the time by chatting, forced to socialize (and to act goofy, like initiating an arena-wide wave). Finally, though, the lights further dimmed, and the arena erupted into screams as the orb I’d eyed earlier, hovering above the B-stage, descended, glowing and robotic like something out of Star Wars, or like HAL 9000, as it appeared to perform the vocoder intro to Lost Weekend opening track “The Outside.” The song itself is devastating- about Bridgers’ father, who passed away in 2023- and I feel like that vocal effect (something the singer hasn’t really previously employed) serves as something of an emotional shield on the album. Live, it felt even more so, with the light ball literally serving as an avatar during those heartbreaking lyrics, as the singer remained out of sight. As the song ended, the dome began to lift, revealing Phoebe and her band- the biggest live band I’ve ever seen her perform with- beneath it, launching into folky Stranger in the Alps single “Motion Sickness,” the song that first helped break Bridgers into the mainstream. The dome continued to float and turn until its underside faced the audience, revealing a ring of lights around its edges and a screen in the middle, which would serve as a dynamic visual complement above the band for the rest of the show. Overall, the production for this tour is simply stunning, and while I might mix up some of the cues and which specific songs they were attached to without a visual reference, I’ll try my best to articulate some of the highlights.
Shifting back to a run of songs from Lost Weekend, Bridgers- rocking her signature all-black, and with a stream of tears painted onto her face- played the mellow-to-dynamic ramp-up (one of her signature writing styles) “Kill Me” and the dreamy, melancholy, and vulnerable “The Governor’s Waltz,” as the dome transformed into a planet, and the stars and sky appeared on the massive screen behind. “Lost Boys”- the lead single from the new LP- followed, which I was a little surprised to hear so early, but helped create some nice sonic variety that would largely carry throughout the setlist, breaking up the more slow and somber with the more upbeat. There was no doubt about which portion was next, as the red and blue glow of a barren desert landscape filled the screens, signaling Punisher (an album which I found a bit hard to listen to when it landed in the midst of the anxiety and isolation of Covid, but which I’ve since come to view as a masterpiece). Instrumental album opener “DVD Menu” served as the score to the stage’s visual transformation, leading right into the raw and haunting “Graden Song,” before ending the short Punisher run with one of Phoebe’s most heartbreaking songs, “Moon Song,” as the circular screen transformed into a glowing moon, naturally.
Moving back to a few more new songs, “Liberty Tree” is one that hadn’t really jumped out at me as much in recording, but which really sounded stellar live, filled out by Phoebe’s incredibly talented band. Lost Weekend really juggles organic and synth, folk and pop, minimalist and maximalist, in such a stunning way that you barely notice just how varied it is in composition, but those alternating moments of lush and sparse really stood out live- especially when they occurred within a single song. “Panorama” was next and is half instrumental, and it was somewhere around this point that Phoebe ventured from the main stage to the B-stage (I can’t recall if it was during or after “Panorama,” but she traveled alongside the pit to get there, greeting fans along the way). Up close and personal with the crowd in the pit on the intimate B-stage, Bridgers began new album title track “Lost Weekend” alone on a small white piano (or perhaps piano-shaped keyboard), seemingly lying on the ground as the dark slowly rotated. Once the song reached its glitchy, frenetic sonic crescendo, though, the light orb above her went crazy, erupting into a dazzling array of lasers, strobes, and pulsing beams of light, in one of the most unique production effects I’ve ever seen.
The unique nature of that production would carry throughout the generous B-stage set, although, first, Phoebe was joined by a few of her bandmates on an acoustic array of fiddles, banjo, and bass (the rest either remained on stage, obscured by the now-descended dome, or took this portion off; unclear) for a run of her folkier material- fan-favorite “Funeral,” from Stranger in the Alps, “Graceland Too,” from Punisher, and “Haunted,” from Lost Weekend. Though she’d addressed the crowd a few times already (notably asking who was at night one, then joking “get ready for more of the same shit”), she spent a lot more time here speaking to the crowd, talking about her father’s death, that Nashville boygenius show in 2023 (during which they performed in drag, in protest of Tennessee’s drag ban, using that memory to speak about how fortunate she felt to be raised by open-minded parents, and to condemn right-wing politics), and how appreciative she was for everyone obliging the phone-free policy (admitting she herself is addicte dto her phone).
I believe her bandmates had exited the stage at this point, leaving Phoebe alone to perform “Still Standing,” during which another absolutely captivating lighting effect occurred, where a green cone of lasers surrounded her from above, reminding me both of a beam from a spaceship, as well as the depiction of the cone of silence in the recent Dune films. The B-stage set ended with “As Above,” which is a great example of how Bridgers pivoted to a more ethereal, synth-rooted sound for some of the more somber, would-be folk songs on Lost Weekend. As the song ramped into one of her signature dynamic buildups, another fascinating lighting effect appeared above her, which looked almost like wings made of sparks, or snowflakes, or electricity, shimmering in the sky (I later realized those spark or snowflake-looking elements were actual confetti, seemingly emerging from a narrowly lit space, when I later noticed scattered all over the ground). At this point, I believe the dome began to rise once more, as the music continued to play and the singer again made her way through the side of the crowd, back to the main stage for a final stretch.
I’m a little fuzzy on any specific production or lighting effects on this second mainstage stretch (nothing as instantly memorable as those B-stage effects), though certainly the screens and stage lights continued to sync up well with the vibe of the show, alternating between visual motifs and video feed. Retaking her place with the band, Bridgers began this portion of the show with “Bobby,” which was the perfect uptempo, layered, love song to bring the energy back up and carry through this mostly more lively portion of the show. “Sidelines” was next, and saw Phoebe roam around the stage a bit in a rare guitar-free moment (that might be the song I was most surprised to hear, since it’s a non-album track from 2022 I kind of forgot about), then somber Stranger in the Alps track “Georgia” (another I was a little surprised to hear, given how few songs from that record were played).
I was so mesmerized by Phoebe and her band- the way she so effortlessly conveys the often heavy, heartbreaking (and occasionally happy or melancholy) emotions and themes of her songs live, her vulnerable sincerity as a songwriter and performer, the vast musical range, the immense level of thoughtfulness and depth she put into the ethos of her show- that I didn’t even consider that any guests might show up (despite seeing Phoebe herself guest duet with Taylor Swift at The Eras Tour a few years ago). There were, in fact, several, all during these final few songs. First, her brother, Jackson Bridgers, who emerged during the folky interlude of otherwise moody, synthy newer song “I Can’t Wait,” for a brief duet (a part that has been speculated to be Geese’s Cameron Winter on the album). Next, she introduced former bandmate and longtime collaborator Christian Lee Hutson, whom she called her best friend. Asking the crowd if they were going to Bright Eyes the following night at Brooklyn Bowl (I was surprised at the muted response; their loss, though, as Phoebe showed up for a surprise song), she told a story about former side project Better Oblivion Community Center, which Hutson was also a part of, and how a strange day in the studio, where Conor Oberst kept popping in and out, eventually helping write a song in almost “drive by” fashion, led to BOCC track “Chesapeake,” which the pair then played acoustic (I hoped for a moment Oberst might join them, but I guess he wasn’t yet in town).
After that really special, intimate moment (one of the songs unique tonight two, as well), the main show ended with more energy and bombast. I’ve always admired how easily Phoebe can go from singing solo (or in a duet) on an acoustic guitar to rocking out with a full band and make it feel so seamless; though ostensibly an indie folk artist, there’s a lot of latent punk spirit in there as well, and she’s so good at selectively letting it out to maximum effect. First of the final two songs was “Kyoto,” which is Punisher‘s most popular and poppiest single. Not only a crowd-pleaser, which made for an excited singalong, but also a song about her complicated relationship with her father, written while he was still alive, it felt like an interesting thematic punctuation after hearing so many songs about processing her grief. Next up was one last Punisher cut, “I Know the End,” which has become an epic way for Bridgers to end her shows, and the ultimate example of her command of dynamics, ramping from somber and introspective to layered, gut-punching, and chaotic, devolving into heavy percussion, horns, and screams. As cool as it is on the record, it’s always even better live, and made for a perfect ending to a spectacular performance- but, of course, it wasn’t really the end.
The break between the show and encore was a bit longer than from the main stage to B-stage, and as soon as Phoebe appeared again- back on the B-stage- I immediately saw why. She’d swapped her all-black outfit for white sneakers and socks and a light dress, designed to glow under blacklight, which illuminated the stage (also making those aforementioned tears painted on her face glow) as she again played alone, on the ground, on that small white piano. I think that great laser cone projected on her again, as the stage spun around for a haunting and devastatingly beautiful performance of “Lost Weekend (Reprise).” The piano was then pulled away on a string, and Phoebe handed a guitar for one more old favorite, “Scott Street.” Hearing the old stuff and new stuff back to back like that really underscores how much she’s evolved sonically, despite the heart of her songs remaining intact (like a modern Bob Dylan, she’s an expert at playing in different aesthetic palettes without ever losing her artistic identity). Though I believe she was alone on the B-stage for this whole encore, the band continued to play from the main stage, and “Scott Street” would be the last song sung by Phoebe, and she gave a heartfelt thanks to Nashville, to Alex G, and to her band (who she’d made a point to introduce throughout the night).
The singer had one more surprise in store, though, welcoming Christian Lee Hutson back to the main stage, along with his wife, musician and actor Maya Hawke (of Stranger Things fame), who both worked on Lost Weekend, to sing one of Bridgers’ songs they helped write, “Never Going Back!” Directing the crowd’s attention to the pair on stage, Phoebe just danced around the B-stage and hyped up her friends, ending her own massive, two-night arena headliner with humility and communal celebration, a reminder that so much art is bigger than any one person, even one as singularly talented as Phoebe. As she walked off into the crowd, I was left in awe of just how special this all felt; so expansive, so intentional, so perfectly matched with the feeling of her music. It’s hard to make earnest, sometimes quiet, music work at an arena level, and Phoebe Bridgers did so better than perhaps any artist I’ve ever seen. The Lost Tour is an emotional journey, a visual spectacle, a celebration of a decade-long career of one of the most important and special artists of my lifetime. And though it’ll only live in my memory (and in this written account, thankfully), being forced to be completely present and watching the whole thing with my eyes instead of ever through my camera screen (something I do still remember doing as a teen, pre-smartphone era), really made it feel like something important and shared and unique, and was an experience I’ll never forget.
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Setlist:
The Outside
Motion Sickness
Kill Me
The Governor’s Waltz
Lost Boys
DVD Menu
Garden Song
Moon Song
Liberty Tree
Panorama
Lost Weekend
Funeral
Graceland Too
Haunted
Still Standing
As Above
Bobby
Sidelines
Georgia
I Can’t Wait (with Jackson Bridgers)
Chesapeake (Better Oblivion Community Center song, with Christian Lee Hutson)
Kyoto
I Know the End
Lost Weekend (Reprise)
Scott Street
Never Going Back! (with Maya Hawke and Christian Lee Hutson)
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