“This city is a very special place for us. It’s the first city where we ever sold out a venue on tour, and it feels like you bring that same energy every time we come back,” Lucy Dacus said mid-way through her dynamic show at Oakland’s Fox Theater on November 17th.
Looking backward was, in a way, the theme of the night. It’s the through-line between the songs on her reflective 2021 record Home Video and the three covers scattered throughout her set (we’ll get to those later). Home Video’s front cover – the “please insert your tape” blue screen burned into the collective memory of those of us old enough to remember VHS players – served as the show’s default visual backdrop, with neat animations and Dacus’ own home movies occasionally making an appearance as well.
Opening with a land acknowledgment from IndigenousJustice.org Project Director Morning Star Gali, Dacus’ set ebbed and flowed in energy. Rock bangers like “Hot & Heavy” and “First Time” shared equal stage time with gut-wrenchingly somber moments like those found in “Thumbs” and “Christine.”
The band was perfectly tight – at times following Dacus as she delivered songs that sounded like crystalline copies of those on her albums. They crafted the incremental rise in intensity during the singalong “Night Shift” fantastically. Other times, these live versions felt like intentional shifts away from their studio counterparts – the overloaded auto-tune in Home Video’s “Partner in Crime,” for example, was dialed back to a significantly more subtle level. Dacus’ voice was in fine form, as was her banter – sharing stories that combined humor and a thoughtful observationalist’s perspective in a way only she can.
Dacus covered three songs – Carole King’s “Home Again,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in The Dark,” and Cher’s 1998 mega-hit “Believe.” A particularly high point in the set, “Believe” was made all the more tender with drummer Ricardo Lagomasino’s instruction that audience members wave their arms along with the music (pictured here).
And ultimately, the evening wasn’t just a reckoning with the past. After the encore’s opener “Dancing In The Dark” wrapped, Dacus debuted a brand new song – one that has yet to be recorded – but not before imploring the audience to not record it themselves in any way, shape, or form. My memory of it is a little hazy, but it was funny and touching – making mention of old stiffs in a boardroom, a cardboard cutout of a cowboy, and feeling entirely out of place.
Before the crowd knew it, the house lights came on, and everyone shuffled out of the venue. And yet there was still a spark in the air – an electricity made extra-special by Dacus sharing a song for this audience’s ears only. After an evening of sentimentality and not-always-pleasant nostalgia, the attendees at the Fox Theater finally found themselves looking forward – not backward – with this brilliant songwriter.
