Big Thief @ Agora (4/22/2022)
Big Thief, currently out on the road promoting their newest album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, performed for the city of Cleveland at the Agora Theater and Ballroom with Kara-Lis Coverdale on Friday, April 22nd 2022. The show opened with Coverdale, a Canadian composer, who a fellow concert goer described as a “siren” and “hypnotizing” (I agree wholeheartedly). Kara-Lis was the melodic palette cleanse we all needed after a long week, myself especially. I found myself closing my eyes and surrendering to the music, forgetting where I was and feeling euphoric; I imagine this is the feeling Kara-Lis intends to convey through her compositions. The entire crowd was quiet and attentive during her set as she wove intricate tapestries of music and enchanted us right before Big Thief took the stage. The indie-rock quartet were met with warm cheers when they took the stage, immediately all eyes drawn to vocalist/guitarist Adrienne Lenker, whose stage presence left me inspired and wanting to become the frontwoman of a cool indie rock band. Throughout the night, they performed hits such as “Paul,” “Masterpiece,” and “Vegas,” all of which earned cheers and applause from the crowd, who faithfully sang along to every song. From here, the band will tour across the United States, making their way to the west coast, followed by a summer tour in Europe and a fall tour in Australia and New Zealand. Aside from promoting a new album and taking their show global, what makes this tour extra special is that 1% of their gross tour income goes to EarthPercent, a charity that will distribute the funds to benefit organizations who deal with climate change. Given their performance took place on Earth Day, it seems fitting to remind everyone how easy it is to take action to show our planet a little extra TLC - reduce, reuse, recycle; ride your bike or carpool to work, switch out your lightbulbs to save energy, use leftovers as compost, and plant a garden! It’s pretty easy to do once you get in the habit, you’ll probably save money, AND future generations will appreciate our efforts. Let’s show Mother Earth some love, okay? Okay.
Photos and words by Mollie Crowe