Queuing for a concert in London’s November weather is not for the faint of heart, but Julien Baker’s fans are dedicated to the cause. It’s the final night of Baker’s ‘You Can Leave’ Tour, which has seen her perform in Chicago, Toronto, New York City, and finally, London. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a solo show from her in London, and her fans (both old timers and new ones, having discovered her work through boygenius) have been waiting for hours for the special occasion.

With two exceptional openers, Katie Malco and Soak, the audience are properly warmed up for the show. The adrenaline is running high; everyone waits with a quiet anticipation for Baker to come on stage. The lights dim. Screams fill the air. But Julien Baker doesn’t appear; it’s Lucy Dacus, fellow member of the Grammy award-winning supergroup, boygenius.

There’s a cacophony of noise, a mix of screaming and excited crying, as she picks up her guitar. She’s here to reintroduce herself to playing solo shows, which she says she hasn’t played in a really long time. Of course, Dacus and Baker, along with Phoebe Bridgers, have spent much of the last two years promoting and touring their boygenius album, ‘The Record’. After a quick mishap with an unplugged guitar, Dacus starts performing a brand new track. The room hushes, except for the occasional sniffle as someone tries to force back tears. Then Julien Baker and her band appear on stage to perform Dacus’ most famous track, ‘Night Shift’, which you can barely hear over the sound of the crowd singing along.

After a quick break, giving the crowd time to calm down a little bit, Baker is back on stage. She starts with ‘Over’, the audience staring up at her with a hushed reverence that’s only broken to cheer when she’s finished. ‘Appointments’ is up next, a fan favourite from her second album, ‘Turn Out The Lights’. We’re treated to ‘Ringside’, ‘Red Door’ and ‘Relative Fiction’ before we hear one of her most emotive tracks, ‘Favor’. Baker’s tracks are complex, multi-faceted, digging deep into her psyche.

Through her music she interrogates herself and her life, and that remained true for the two new songs she played half way through the show. Continuing on with her track ‘Tokyo’, she sings ‘A seven-car pileup of every disastrous thing that I’ve been / Crane your neck / The aftermath / The imprint of my body left’. Baker’s lyrics have a way of touching your soul and breaking down your walls, as if her vulnerability is bringing out your own. Her impact is even more powerful when you’re watching her perform live; seeing her pour her whole self into her performance feels like you’re watching someone reckon with their past and their experiences in real time.

She asks the audience who has been here for any of the other London shows this week, and a large cheer comes from the crowd. She’s changed up the set list each night, so the audience are getting a fresh show today. She treats us to a cover of ‘The Woodpile’ by Frightened Rabbit before continuing with her own songs with ‘Crying Wolf’, ‘Ziptie’ and ‘Sprained Ankle’. Baker performs tracks from all three of her albums throughout the show, and while they all vary sonically, each record demonstrates her ability for soul searching and self reflection.

Midway through the set, she thanked Katie Malco and Soak for supporting her with this tour, before extending her thanks to Lucy Dacus, joking, ‘Never seen her play before, she’s pretty good.’ She plays ‘Sprained Ankle’, the titular song from her debut album, ‘Bloodshot’ (where the crowd sang along the loudest that they had all set), and ‘Even’.

There’s a few quick breaks for some people who aren’t feeling well, but Baker takes it in her stride and quickly gets back into the groove, even joking that the band restart the song every time she makes a mistake. Unfortunately for us the show can’t go on forever and we’re now approaching the final few songs, but the energy reaches a high as we hear ‘Claws In Your Back’. The last song of the main set is fan favourite ‘Hardlines’, and the crowd scream the lyrics back to her perfectly in time, like they’re all one voice.

The show comes to a crashing end with ‘Everybody Does’, the air bittersweet. It’s been an incredible show, and it’s a real treat to have Baker perform in London. All of us, including Baker herself, are emotional that the final night of the tour has come to an end. Baker’s music is a testament to the power of openness and vulnerability can do, and you can guarantee there won’t be a dry eye in the house at her shows. Having heard some new songs tonight, we can only hope that album four is on the horizon.

SETLIST

Two songs performed by Lucy Dacus: a new, unheard song, and ‘Night Shift’ with Julien Baker and her band
Over
Appointments
Ringside
Red Door
Relative Fiction
Favor
Heatwave
Middle Children
High in the Basement
Tokyo
The Woodpile (Frightened Rabbit cover)
Crying Wolf
Ziptie
Sprained Ankle
Bloodshot
Even
Claws in Your Back
Hardlines
Everybody Does