Photos & Review By: Blanton Leigh
On September 7, Tennessee-native Julien Baker made her way down to Asheville, NC at the Orange Peel for the latest stop on her North American + Europe 2021/2022 tour. This tour comes after the critically-acclaimed release of Baker’s third album Little Oblivions, where she opted for more of a full band sound, a bit of a departure from her acoustic alt folk roots, but retains the rawness and honesty as a hallmark of her songwriting. Baker also produced, and played most of the instruments herself while recording the record, including guitar, bass, drums, and percussion.
For this stop on her tour, Baker brought along Thao, who is simply too difficult to describe, and I mean that in all of the best ways. From one song to the next, each was so different, but intentionally so. If you have not checked out this artist yet, now is the time to do so.
From the moment Baker stepped on the stage you could already feel the immense connection between her and her fans. The crowed roared as she stepped on the stage, and thats just where it started. Baker played mostly from her album Little Oblivions, but did bust out some staples from her catalogue, which very muched pleased the crowd. In the moments between songs you could get a sense of who Julien was outside of performing. She is so graceful, humble, awkward, and very funny. Once she started playing you could really feel her come alive, it was electric. While I could say that they are two different people, Julien the performer, and Julien the person, I could feel that it was all honest and it was all her. That is what I loved about her concert, her honesty, connection, and her fearlessness when she performs.
Just a little tidbit I wanted to add here at the end, but this was my first time shooting a concert, and thank you to Midnight Riot for making this dream of mine a reality. Thank you so much to Julien Baker and Thao for putting on an amazing show, and thank you for making it the best first show I could ask for.
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