LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: BIG THIEF AT THE O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON, LONDON 24/04/26
Big Thief have returned to London with their new headlining run, the Somersault Slide 360 Tour, marking their first headlining tour in the UK in three years. Tonight was the second of a four-night mini residency at O2 Academy Brixton, and the atmosphere reflected a rare kind of shared admiration. The audience spanned all ages, and by the end of the night, every person in the room seemed completely absorbed in the band’s rich tonal shifts and lengthy solos. Despite selling out all four shows, Big Thief kept the staging simple, leaning into a minimalist setup while introducing six unreleased tracks within a 16-song set.
The evening opened with Dylan Meek, brother of guitarist Buck Meek, who drew the crowd in with four atmospheric, experimental songs. He later joined the band on stage during ‘Masterpiece’ and ‘Spud Infinity’.
Big Thief - Adrianne Lenker on vocals and guitar, Buck Meek on guitar, James Krivchenia on drums, and new touring bassist Joshua Crumbly - began their set with ‘Casual Touch’, an unreleased track first debuted earlier on the tour. This run also marks Crumbly’s first UK tour with the band following the departure of former bassist Max Oleartchik in 2024. After ‘Certainty’, one of only two songs performed from DRAGON NEW WARM MOUNTAIN I BELIEVE IN YOU, the band shifted into fan favourites ‘Masterpiece’ and ‘Not’, to a screaming crowd.
They followed with two unreleased tracks: ‘Pterodactyl’, a captivating anthem first introduced live just two weeks earlier, and ‘Terrifying’ a song that debuted in 2024 and still remains officially unreleased. Both highlighted the band’s distinctive, intricate sound and their remarkable versatility as musicians. The set then turned to ‘Terminal Paradise’, originally an Adrianne Lenker solo piece from her 2018 album abysskiss, later reworked with the full band for Big Thief’s 2019 record UFOF. This flowed into ‘Real House’, another Lenker composition taken from her most recent solo album, Bright Future.
The band shifted gears with two new electric tracks: ‘Christmas Day’, a heavier, emotionally charged song that built toward a long, intense solo, and ‘Mr. Man’, an energetic number that drew an enthusiastic response from the crowd. They then eased into a more understated, intimate rendition of ‘Mary’, which earned a prolonged and well-deserved ovation.
American multi-instrumentalist Laraaji, who features on the band’s latest album Double Infinity, joined them on stage for the final three songs of the main set. ‘Words' proved to be a crowd favourite, even prompting some headbanging from Lenker by the end, while ‘No Fear’ took a more atmospheric route, stretching past the ten-minute mark before the band exited ahead of the encore.
They returned for one final song, ‘Spud Infinity’, joined by opening act Dylan Meek and Lenker’s younger brother Noah, closing the night with a joyful, communal performance ahead of their penultimate Brixton show the following evening.
Words and photos by Eva Grant
