Julien Baker's Fall Tour Diary

After a truly whirlwind 2023, the boys of boygenius — Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker — have taken some much-deserved time off the road. But when Baker announced a brand new tour for fall 2024, the response was immediate and overwhelming: we are so back.

Baker kicked off her three-month run that will see her across the U.S., Canada, and England this September in Chicago, before heading over to New York to play last month’s All Things Go festival — and a trio of headlining shows at Webster Hall. Or, at least that was the plan. On night two of the run, Baker cut the show short, sending out Dacus to inform the crowd that Baker had suddenly gotten ill. But, the show must go on, and the following night, Baker was back on stage, followed by a makeup show at Brooklyn Steel where Dacus once again came out — this time to perform a surprise set for the lucky crowd. Here, Baker shares a rare behind-the-scenes look of the tour.

“Imagining the lens is a portal to what abyss, what worlds unknown I cannot say.”

“I’ve been raffling off my sketches for Palestine’s Children’s Relief Fund every night — something to get me drawing, help me be less precious by making art as a gift and not as a living, remind me artistic acts however small can correlate to something worthwhile.”

“Teaching the band Baker family pastime: Skip-Bo (It’s like Uno but more piles).”

“The band rips an impromptu rendition of ‘Night Shift’ with special guest Lucy Dacus.”

“Zooming around backstage with pre-show jitters with Calvin (left) and Noah in the ubiquitous 9:30 Club t-shirt.”

“Calvin taking us through pre-show wiggle-release. Cal (far right) and Matt (on my left) have been with me since we were kids, before I could drive even (!!). Such a gift to be with a band again and to be making music as a family.”

“Getting that game face on.”

“Thank you to everyone who came out to these shows so far, for your attentiveness and excitement, for coming early to see a cast of my wonderful friends and musical heroes play, and especially for showing up for the surprise reschedule show at Brooklyn Steel. It’s an honor to play music for y’all.”

Photographs by Shervin Lainez