Still Becoming: Big Thief at The Salt Shed
Article and Photos by Nathan Hogg
Rain began to fall over The Salt Shed as Big Thief floated through “Simulation Swarm”, transforming the outdoor set into something looser and more exposed. The weather embedded itself into the performance rather than interrupting, setting the scene for a night where the band was willing to let the audience see things before they were fully settled. Between familiar songs like “Vampire Empire” and “Spud Infinity,” Big Thief tested unreleased material, paused the show when people in the crowd needed help, and maintained the kind of casual, attentive presence that created a shared moment with the crowd rather than a polished production.
Big Thief, led by Adrianne Lenker, has long moved between indie rock, folk, and more experimental textures, with songs that remain intimate even when stretched across a large outdoor stage. Formed in Brooklyn in 2015, Big Thief now features Adrianne Lenker, guitarist Buck Meek, drummer James Krivchenia, and bassist Joshua Crumbly. They released their sixth album, Double Infinity, in September 2025. Their live set balanced that intimacy with bursts of volume and distortion, while the rain and deep blue lighting provided an appropriately unstable backdrop. Ben LaMar Gay opened the night with a blend of experimental jazz, colorful melodies, and percussive noise, setting an appropriately exploratory tone.
The most striking moments came from the band’s unreleased material. One new song moved through imagery of memory, tears, desire, shame, and emptiness, including the line “So many f*cked up things turn me on,” followed by a lyric about the emptiness that comes afterward. Another song had been written only the night before. Lenker introduced it with the explanation, “If you write a song on the road, you gotta play it,” before the band began trying out sounds around it in real time. Rather than hiding the song’s unfinished quality, they leaned into it. The performance felt vulnerable precisely because it did not yet seem fully fixed.
A third new song carried images of leaving: skipping town, packing a few things, and driving towards the ocean. The band’s request that the audience refrain from filming during some of the new material added to the sense that these songs belonged, at least temporarily, to the room itself. That feeling of immediacy extended beyond the music. At one point, the band stopped playing when people in the crowd appeared to need assistance, waiting until the situation was handled before continuing. It was a small moment, but one that reinforced how attentive and unhurried the performance felt.
By the encore, the most memorable part of the night was not simply hearing Big Thief play familiar material, but watching them expose the process behind the music. The rain, the unfinished songs, the improvised textures and pauses between them all made the set feel unusually open. Instead of presenting a perfectly sealed version of themselves, Big Thief allowed the audience to witness songs and moments that were still becoming.
Photo Pass: Big Thief at The Salt Shed Outdoors
