Big Thief at ACL Live
Schedule
Wed Sep 15 2021 at 08:00 pm to 11:00 pm
Location
ACL Live | Austin, TX
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Big Thiefwith Steve Fisher
presented by KUTX
Masks are required and must remain in place unless eating or drinking.
Attention Big Thief fans! At the request of the artist, there are updated health and safety requirements for fans coming to see Big Thief with Jimmy Stallings at Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater on September 15, 2021.
All attendees of this event must have received a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of attending. Guests not wishing to provide a negative test result can voluntarily show proof of full vaccination instead. In attending the event, you certify and attest that you and all individuals in your party attending the event:
All fans must provide printed proof of a negative COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen) obtained within 72 hours prior to entering the venue.
In lieu of a negative test result, guests fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (at least two weeks after final dose) at the time of the event may instead provide proof of vaccination – either the original vaccination card or a printed copy of the vaccination card.
These regulations will apply to all members of your party (including children) before they are allowed entry to the event and to any users of the tickets purchased by you.
DO NOT attend the event if you have recently been exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 case or are exhibiting symptoms consistent with COVID-19 in the 48 hour period prior to the event.
ABOUT BIG THIEF
30 miles west of El Paso, surrounded by 3,000 acres of pecan orchards and only a stone’s throw from the Mexican border, the band Big Thief (a.k.a. Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik, and James Krivchenia) set up their instruments as close together as possible to capture their most important collection of songs yet. The band had only just finished work on their 3rd album, U.F.O.F. -“the celestial twin”- days before in a cabin studio in the woods of Washington State. Now it was time to birth U.F.O.F.’s sister album -“the earth twin”- Two Hands.
In sharp contrast to the wet environment of the U.F.O.F. session, the southwestern Sonic Ranch studio was chosen for its vast desert location. The 105-degree weather boiled away any clinging memories of the green trees and wet air of the last session. Two Hands had to be completely different— an album about the Earth and the bones beneath it. The songs were recorded live with almost no overdubs. All but two songs feature entirely live vocal takes, leaving Adrianne’s voice suspended above the mix in dry air, raw and vulnerable as ever. Where U.F.O.F. layered mysterious sounds and effects for levitation, Two Hands grounds itself on dried-out, cracked desert dirt.
Anybody who has borne witness to Big Thief in the wild will find songs they recognize here. Much of the album’s tracks (“The Toy”, “Those Girls”, “Shoulders”, “Not”, “Cut My Hair”) have been live staples for years. “Two Hands has the songs that I’m the most proud of; I can imagine myself singing them when I’m old,” says Adrianne. “Musically and lyrically, you can’t break it down much further than this. It’s already bare-bones.”
Lyrically this can be felt in the poetic blur of the internal and external. These are political songs without political language. They explore the collective wounds of our Earth. Abstractions of the personal hint at war, environmental destruction, and the traumas that fuel it. Lyrics like “And the blood of the man who killed my mother with his hands is in me/ it’s in me/ in my veins” are genuine attempts to point the listener towards the very real dangers that face our mother planet. When Adrianne sings “Please wake up,” she’s talking directly to the audience. “Attention is power,” she says. “I believe you can manifest something on the other side of the world just by using your power well.”
Engineer Don Monks and producer Andrew Sarlo, who were both behind U.F.O.F., capture the live energy as instinctually and honestly as possible. The journey of a song from the stage to the record is often a difficult one. Big Thief’s advantage is their bond and loving center as a chosen family. They spend almost 100% of their lives together working towards a sound that they all agree upon. A band with this level of togetherness is increasingly uncommon. If you ask drummer James Krivchenia, bassist Max Oleartchik or guitarist Buck Meek how they write their parts, they will describe—passionately—the experience of hearing Adrianne present a new song, listening intently for hints of parts that already exist in the ether and the undertones to draw out with their respective instruments. It is an honor to give life to these intricacies.
With raw power and intimacy, Two Hands folds itself gracefully into Big Thief’s impressive discography. This body of work grows deeper and more inspiring with each new album. While you listen, let your own two hands rest in front of your body with palms facing inward and see what power grows between them.
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Where is it happening?
ACL Live, 310 W. Willie Nelson Blvd, Ste 1B, Austin, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
