Generational talent and professional existentialist Phoebe Bridgers returned to Massachusetts for two sold-out shows at TD Garden on October 6th and 7th as part of The Lost Tour. Her latest album Lost Weekend shares many invisible strings with the state, including the tour promo visuals, which were shot in Adams and the liminal space that inspired the song “Liberty Tree” in Danvers. After a slew of intimate surprise pop-up shows and early listening experiences at planetariums worldwide, including the Museum of Science Boston Planetarium, Bridgers took the expansive blue galaxy aesthetic she crafted on the road. These sneak-peek events were completely technology and phone-free, a rare feat that critics might say would deter Gen Z audiences. Quite the opposite proved true: fans of all ages eagerly jumped at the chance to savor the moment, a phenomenon mirrored by younger generations turning to analog art, older screen-free devices, and practices like snail mail in their everyday lives. Bridgers scaled that longing for connection and living in the present by partnering with Yondr, which had fans lock up their phones in pouches at arenas across the US on this tour.

Fans posed for photos outside in skeleton onesies and teal-blue ensembles reminiscent of the Lost Weekend album cover to commemorate the night ahead. Inside, guests were greeted with receipt printers that printed their seat numbers so they could find their spots without their devices. At the top of the escalators, whimsical, dreamy merchandise pulled everyone into the line. Designs included a sweatshirt with Bridgers in medieval garb in front of a castle with swords on the sleeves, Bridgers falling around a sea of doors, and a turquoise galaxy. Eyes widened as guests made their way to their seats and spotted a giant paneled dome at center stage. It was Bridgers’ first solo show in Boston in 5 years, and fans began whispering and buzzing with anticipation for the evening ahead. 

First up was eclectic singer-songwriter and producer Alexander Giannascoli, professionally known as Alex G. Alex G and his band unconventionally popped up on the b stage for their set. He immediately commanded the crowd, capturing them with an unexpected falsetto and raw vocals that he mixed with visceral screams. Poles around the stage flashed blue to underscore the punchy instrumentals. Like Bridgers, Alex G weaves through genres like folk, noise rock, and indie. Before stepping off stage, the band shouted out everyone on their team, from the lighting director to the tour manager to the merchandise manager, a rare moment that live music could use more of: grounded gratitude for the people behind the scenes who make shows possible. Performances of tracks like “Hollow” and “Sarah” closed out their set with catchy melodies and infectious energy. 

Between sets, eager fans started doing the wave, lifting both arms and cheering as it rippled through the venue over 10 times. The bonding that took place before Bridgers’ headline set united the crowd, who screamed and hugged each other with excitement in unison as the lights dimmed. The crunchy autotune melody of “The Outside” bellowed through the speakers as everyone looked around trying to spot Bridgers. Lyrics like “I dive into the crowd / And they never let me hit the ground” served as a thank-you to her loyal fans and a celebration of how live music inspires us to have each other’s backs. The giant dome ascended into the air, and misty white lights instantly beamed up Boston into the world of Lost Weekend. Bridgers and her band appeared like a symphony, with drums, violins, and cellos creating swelling instrumentals that brought each song to life. Bridgers stood in a sleek black dress with mesmerizing silver glittery tear makeup under her eyes. The opening notes of “Motion Sickness” electrified the crowd, who jumped and sang along. 

The show was a feat of technological innovation and creativity. During “The Governor’s Waltz,” the dome lifted like the lid of a jewelry box, creating a circular screen that projected visuals of Mars against a galaxy backdrop. Bridgers is known for her haunting melodies and airy vocals, which floated through the venue, filling the room with a dreamlike haze. Standout track and lead single “Lost Boys” picked up the tempo as she yelped into the mic and skipped around the stage. Fans threw their arms around one another and danced with abandon. The blue technicolor fantasy realm shifted into earthy reds for “DVD Menu” and “Garden Song,” smoothly transitioning the show into the world of her second studio album, Punisher. 

Bridgers has come a long way since she began releasing music in 2015. The singer paused between songs to recall playing Great Scott in Boston, a room with a capacity of around 200 people: “They kicked us out at 8:00 pm for a DJ night. Who was there?” Some lucky fans in the audience cheered, and she replied: “Wow, that’s a deep cut, that’s a rare pull!” Bridgers is also no stranger to TD Garden, sharing that she “was here for a WNBA game…I don’t know anything about sports. It was cool. I like to visit sports. It’s like I’m an alien.” That simile perfectly summed up how she transformed the arena into a planet of enchantment, making us all share in being aliens together. That feeling of belonging and finding one’s people echoes across Lost Weekend, one of her first projects that features more traditional love songs like “Liberty Tree” and “Bobby.” She gave a quick “Shoutout Danvers Mass” before performing the heartfelt tracks. The other party in this relationship that inspired the tracks happened to be bopping along in the crowd to every song. Bridgers’ effortlessly weaved between vulnerability and joyous humor, including when she cheekily swapped the word “touch” for the original word “fuck” in the lyric “a thing in a box I don’t touch anymore” in “Bobby.”

These device-free shows have fueled fans’ creativity, with many sketching, drawing, and painting to remember the night. The first song on the b stage was the most anticipated of the night for folks who had seen some of these artworks online. Bridgers performed the title track with aching vocals that pierced right through everyone’s hearts. She has a knack for sitting in pockets of silence, letting everyone reflect. Soon the fluttering synth circled the venue, and at the instant of the explosive bass drop, physics-defying lights zigzagged across the room. A giant orb mechanism housed all the lights above the b-stage and shot out RGB beams that twisted and slinked around the venue, like a rainbow in a kaleidoscope or those 90s arcade carpets. Fans looked around in awe, blinking quickly as if they could not believe their eyes. The b stage was the backdrop for the most tender performances of the night, including  “Funeral” and “Graceland Too,” with some fans jumping on each other’s backs to see Bridgers and her band as the 360º stage spun around slowly. 

During “Still Standing,” the mother and daughter in front of me started tearing up and hugging each other. Throughout the night, I spotted friends and family hugging and crying, a reminder of live music’s power and how important it is to have shared moments of feeling seen, heard, and understood. Two beams of teal light created a spotlight on the b stage while fog billowed in patches, making it feel like a magic show where Bridgers could disappear in a cloud of smoke as if the audience imagined the whole thing. The show was a full-body sensory experience: blue sparks and sparkles flashed at the top of the lights, creating a whimsical escape from the outside world. 

Bridgers spotted some signs in the crowd and excitedly shared her favorites with everyone. She exclaimed, “Deal! It’s a sign that says, ‘Trade picks with me. This one was used by Dave Matthews,’ my tour manager is obsessed with Dave Matthews…What a great gift, thank you.” She revealed her band performs “Crash Into Me” every soundcheck, and the only time she’s met Matthews is when she came off stage and her tour manager handed her a phone with him on FaceTime. Next, she laughed at a ‘Dad’s for Phoebe’ sign: “Are the dads here? I don’t have one, so. Who else doesn’t have a dad?” Bridgers’ insights on loss, love, and family across her work are some of the industry’s best. She revealed some vulnerable thoughts about dealing with her father’s passing, sharing, “It was sort of psychedelic, the shock of that…I felt like I was floating for weeks…Something happens with the big death, the glasses come off and you start to see all the death around you.” Her words were a reminder to be gentle and practice sonder (the profound realization that every person is living a life just as vivid, complex, and real as your own) in one’s everyday life. Bridgers also pulled back the curtain on her decision to ban phones. She is acutely aware of the phenomenon of trying to capture a viral clip for social media: “Phones are annoying at live shows…I want to talk to you!” Circulating bite-sized, no-context clips on social media have distracted many concert-goers. Many may have wanted to capture the spectacle Bridgers crafted to relive the night afterward, but in the end they had no choice but to see it with their own eyes instead of through a screen. The singer made her way back to the main stage through the crowd, high-fiving, hugging, and smiling at everyone, another experience that seems impossible to achieve if phones were around.

Back on the main stage Bridgers’ has been switching up the setlist across shows. The loudest track of the night might have been when she surprised Boston with “Waiting Room,” one of her beloved singles. Fans belted out the lyrics as a form of cathartic release. During the mesmerizing track “I Can’t Wait,” which features the singular voice of Geese’s Cameron Winter, Bridgers brought out her brother, Jackson, to sing. His smooth vocals greatly complemented hers, turning the night into a meaningful family affair. Each show, Bridgers has played a mystery song for the crowd, and to much fanfare, Boston night 2 received “Killer,” a track Bridgers noted was “as old as ‘Waiting room.’ I always forget that!” Fans watched in awe as she played the decade-old track with the same personal, breathy quality as the original. 

The visuals became the most frenzied and psychedelic during “Kyoto” when the dome lifted and flashed circular objects like an 8-ball, rubber band ball, baseball, eyeball, and planets. In the background, 8-bit symbols like a donut, pizza, burger, and hourglass swirled around the Milky Way. Much like the original music video, the arena felt like it was floating through a vintage internet archive. The crowd felt triumphant as the horns blared and drumlines rolled in. Bridgers closed her main set with the cathartic track “I Know The End,” yelling “are you ready?!” before the tradition of having the whole crowd scream at the top of their lungs together. It felt like a group healing session, allowing everyone to leave their stressors and troubles behind.

The crowd chanted her name before she returned to the b stage for an electric encore, appearing glowing in the blue light. She changed into a white dress and knelt at a white keyboard to perform “Lost Weekend (Reprise).” Her ethereal voice kept eyes glued to the stage, and each song carried the same raw emotion as its recorded version. During “Scott Street,” the lyrics served as a message to fans reluctant to let the show end: “don’t be a stranger.” Everyone teared up and waved both arms in the air to the beat, a tidal wave of emotion sweeping through the crowd as it swayed like a restless sea. The lights came back on as the track “Never Going Back!” blasted in the speakers, articulating how the crowd felt after witnessing that transcendent, life-altering performance, “Never going back again / The way it used to be is not the way that it is.”

Bridgers is a master at bottling the essence of the human experience in her songs: the drive to feel deeply. And much like Sisyphus, her endless need to explore and make sense of the ever-changing landscape of emotions inspires her fans to embrace that ravenous black hole too. She reflected the complex landscapes of her songs perfectly in a visual format, with mystifying videos, sublime lighting, sharp instrumentation, and a curated setlist. Fans spent those hours in TD Garden completely in the present, trying to cram their memories full and hold on tight to the moment. Bridgers crafted a euphoric night of community, whether by inviting everyone to join her troupe of ‘lost boys’ or by encouraging vulnerability as she fearlessly wore her heart on her sleeve during every track. Make sure to catch Phoebe Bridgers live before The Lost Tour ends in December. Buy tickets here.