I’m playing some museums and special places across the US this February. Mostly new songs.

2/18: New York
2/20: Chicago
2/22: San Francisco
2/24: Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/rmWWNiVRop

— Lucy Dacus (@lucydacus) December 16, 2024

    The shows were announced in January and the singer, famously known for the emotionally staggering track ‘Night shift’, has recently spoken on the significance of the London venue for this show. The Museum opened in June 2004 at the original site of the Foundling Hospital, founded in 1739. The hospital was the UK’s first children’s charity and public art gallery. The Museum commemorates this as ‘the only cultural institution in the UK to celebrate people who have been in care, and all those who care for them’, with curation of art, music, writing and objects. 

 

 

View on Threads

Dacus has spoken about her connection with the cause as the artist herself was adopted. She explains the importance of contemporary support for young people in care, revealing in an interview with The Guardian that she invited trainees to the performance to show them, “hey, I’m doing cool shit – you can do cool shit.”. The inspiring artist has also discussed the significance of Museums and churches when touring her new music with the album cover presenting a Renaissance-style painting of the singer by artist Will St John. In Wallpaper‘s interview with Dacus, she explores the significance of singing queer personal stories in historical spaces where this has ‘probably never happened’, noting that when performing in churches, the thought occurred to her that ‘there were years in the past in this church where I would have been killed’. This amplifies the significance of such a performance, striking a chord with the queer community.

She also notices the importance of historical landmarks and inclusion of other artists such as Will St John as well as several actors and artists from Cara Delevigne to Christina Moreland in the music video for ‘Best Guess’ off her latest album ‘Forever is a feeling’.

Her inclusion of inspirational artists is important in a contemporary context, as she discusses her thoughts on AI, an issue widely discussed in the music industry as of late. Dacus expresses that she finds the issue a frustrating shortcut to art that negates the ‘internal process. That’s the entire reason for me’. Her choice of locations in these intimate shows speaks to a love of the human-ness and history of art as well as its organic creation.

Dacus will return to the UK on 26  June in London, following with a show in Edinburgh on 30 June and Manchester on 2 July where she will perform her latest album ‘Forever is a feeling’, her fourth studio album released on 28 March. The 13 track album is a sentimental acoustic pop release embracing love and life.

Forever Is A Feeling Tour in the UK & Europe ♾️

tix on sale Friday, 21 Feb at 10am local time at https://t.co/vmoZ7hTERk

presale info below pic.twitter.com/xpWfYyvFVD

— Lucy Dacus (@lucydacus) February 11, 2025

The tour will begin in Oslo at Rockefeller on June 12, before heading to Amsterdam’s Paradiso on June 16 and Berlin’s Astra on June 19. She will then take the stage at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels on June 24, followed by a performance at Le Trianon in Paris on June 25. UK fans will have the opportunity to see her at Brixton Academy in London on June 26, before she moves on to Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on June 28. The tour continues into July with a show at Manchester Academy on July 2, followed by a special night in Dublin at Iveagh Gardens on July 3. The final stop will be at Roskilde Festival in Denmark on July 5, closing out what promises to be an unforgettable run of shows. 

Tickets for these highly anticipated performances go on sale on February 21, 2025. Fans eager for early access can take advantage of the presale beginning on February 18, with codes available through Dacus’s official mailing list and social media pages after pre-purchasing the album from her online store.  

In anticipation of the album, Dacus has released new single, ‘Best Guess’. The song carries a nostalgic ’90s energy, blending mellow guitar tones with her signature thoughtful lyricism. The accompanying music video, which she directed herself, adds another layer of meaning, centring around masc-presenting queer people, a group that is often underrepresented in mainstream media. Featuring appearances from Cara Delevingne, Towa Bird, and Muna’s Naomi McPherson, the video is a celebration of queer joy, playfully challenging conventional ideas of masculinity. 

With scenes of boxing, billiards, darts, andvery chilled line-dancing, the video reclaims traditionally masculine-coded spaces and fills them with fluidity and self-expression. It offers a rare portrayal of masc queer identities, presenting them in a space that feels safe, fun, and full of community. For Dacus, an artist who has always explored themes of self-discovery and queerness, ‘Best Guess’ feels both personal and culturally significant, as if it is a love letter to those who don’t always see themselves represented in media. 

 With the release of ‘Best Guess’ and the upcoming ‘Forever Is a Feeling’ tour, Lucy Dacus continues to solidify her place as a compelling voice in the indie music scene. Fans eagerly await the chance to experience her new material live in these intimate settings, where her openness and warm stage presence will undoubtedly shine. 

Ticket information can be found here.

The tour will instead begin in Bristol on March 24, with additional gigs in London, Brighton and at the BBC 6 Music Festival in Cardiff unaffected. The announcement came after Dacus confirmed she had tested positive for COVID just before leaving the US for her tour.

A statement was sent out on Dacus’ social media channels last night (March 16) which read “She is doing well however, out of an abundance of caution and care for the rest of her band, crew and fans, we are postponing the first few shows of the tour. These shows will be rescheduled quickly (more on that soon) and the tour will begin as planned in Bristol on March 24.” She then continued “Lucy’s really looking forward to her arrival in the UK and Europe, and playing for you all. Thanks for your care and support, and she will see you soon!”

pic.twitter.com/72qsjac6pH

— Lucy Dacus (@lucydacus) March 16, 2022

It was not stated when she planned to reschedule the shows, perhaps for dates during her trip to Europe as the tour is currently scheduled to finish in Paris on April 15. Alternatively, she could possibly rearrange the gigs for late summer, when she returns to the UK for previously planned appearances at End of the Road Festival and London’s All Points East.

You can see Dacus’ upcoming UK tour dates below, starting with the aforementioned Bristol date on March 24, and you can find any remaining tickets here.

Lucy Dacus Tour Dates:

24/03/22 Marble Factory – Bristol
25/03 O2 Forum Kentish Town – London
26/03 Rough Trade East – London
27/03 Concorde 2 – Brighton
01/04 Cardiff University Students Union – Cardiff [part of BBC Radio 6 Music Festival 2022]

THERE YOU HAVE IT

We’ll be bringing this lovely lot to Cardiff from Friday 1st April – Sunday 3rd April and WE CANNOT WAIT!!!

Who’s joining us? pic.twitter.com/uauVHsryyp

— BBC Radio 6 Music (@BBC6Music) February 15, 2022

“The most exciting element about the 6 Music Festival is the coming together, in a physical space, of our beloved 6 Music listeners and the staff at the station, with artists we love,” 6 Music’s Mary Anne Hobbs said in a statement. “Lockdowns have kept us apart since 2020, so this year’s gigs in Cardiff are going to feel super-charged.” The line-up on the first-day does seem to reflect the super-charged initial thoughts; post-punk icons IDLES take to the stage in The Great Hall to supply the Welsh crowd with their usual brand of woke-punk. Singer-songwriter and one part of the indie powerhouse that is Boygenius; Lucy Dacus is going to appear at The Great Hall, with none other than the one-and-only Pixies. St David’s Hall is another venue to be given the BBC treatment, Little Simz will appear alongside Mykki Blanco, Curtis Harding, and Deyah to create a fabulous blend of R&B, Poetry, and generally top tier songwriting. Tramshed will also be hosting a club night with appearances from DJ’s SHERELLE, Overmono, Tom Ravenscroft and many more.

Saturday night in Cardiff see’s appearances from Bloc Party, slightly before the release of their 6^th LP Alpha Games on April 22^nd, Sports Team take another swing at the festival after performing at the 2020 bout too, beabadoobee rounds out proceedings at The Great Hall. Khruangbin, an American psychedelic-dub-soul-trio make their first appearance in the UK since 2019, while Ezra Collective add a 2^nd date to their (currently quite short) touring schedule, Ibibio Sound Machine will also make an appearance to bring their own taste of electronic afro-funk to Wales. Nemone, Craig Charles, and David Holmes will also make appearances at Tramshed.

The final day of the festival brings Johnny Marr, Self Esteem, and Wet Leg together under the same roof; allowing the crowds to get quite the spread of music from only 3 artists, The Smiths singer-songwriter sits in stark contrast to Self Esteem’s experimental-pop aura, and Wet Leg’s post-punk anger. The most anticipated act of the evening however (for me at least), has to be the appearance of Father John Misty with the backing of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The new sound of this album has revealed 2 great singles so far, so putting it into a live context can only highlight the glum maximalism he’s going for at the moment. Cat Power, Super Furry Animal’s own Gruff Rhys, and audiobooks round out what could be a very exciting evening.

“Kissing Lessons”, a B-side from Dacus’ most recent album, is an upbeat, urgent tune, and is also one of the songwriter’s shortest songs to date. The song wastes no time introducing itself with a lightly overdriven guitar starting things off, soon joined by a subdued drum beat that quickly blossoms into a thick, driving rhythm as a bass guitar swoops in to glue everything together. Over the top of the warmly overdriven instrumental, Dacus delivers a tongue-in-cheek anecdote from her pre-teen years, singing about a close friend who she refers to as “Rachel”. Dacus said of the song in a newsletter: “I have a new song called ‘Kissing Lessons’ which is actually an old song I wrote in 2017 and tried to put in Home Video but it didn’t fit in because it’s too fun.”

As part of the promotion for this song, Dacus had flyers put up around her home city of Richmond, Virginia with the number (804) 409-4451 printed on them. Anyone who called the number would then hear the new song prior to its official release.

“Kissing Lessons” will be part of an upcoming 7” vinyl release that will also include the song “Thumbs Again” , an alternate version of the singer-songwriter’s recent track “Thumbs”. The 7” will be released on June 3^rd, and is available for pre-order here.

Dacus’ new single comes hot on the heels of her latest album release; 2021’s Home Video, which was very warmly received, and has found a very well-deserved place on many year-end lists with its sonic beauty and hard-hitting lyricism concerning the tribulations and anxieties of an upbringing spent surrounded by religion. The album manages to be autobiographical, with Dacus making many references to her childhood and returning to her hometown as an adult, whilst also tackling subject matter that speaks to a great deal of people on a personal level. You can view the cleverly constructed lyric video for “Brando” from the album below.

Dacus will also be going on tour soon, embarking on a US leg on the 9^th of February. She will also be visiting the UK and Europe in March and April. Several of the singer’s UK dates are sold out, however any remaining tickets can be purchased here. The UK dates are listed down below.

18/03/2022- Brudenell Social Cub- Leeds (SOLD OUT)
19/03- Brudenell Social Club- Leeds (SOLD OUT)
20/03- St. Lukes- Glasgow (SOLD OUT)
21/03- Olympia Theatre- Dublin
23/03- Gorilla- Manchester (SOLD OUT)
24/03- Marble Factory- Bristol
25/03- Kentish Town Forum- London
26/03- Rough Trade Records, In Store Performance- London
27/03- Concorde 2- Brighton

Dacus has just recently finished up a 2021 tour in support of her Home Video, where the Winter 2022 tour will be the continuation of the previous tour. On the 19th of November she will link up with her Boygenius bandmates for their first show in three years, where they will play a benefit show in San Fransisco.

The track, which recalls an evening where Dacus met a friends estranged father and fantasised about killing him, was influenced by her own struggles with her birth father: Dacus tells the Rolling Stone, “it ends with those lines, ‘You don’t owe him shit/Even if he said you did. That’s me speaking to her, but I needed to hear that for myself.” 

The original track “Thumbs” was so highly anticipated earlier in the year that it had its own fan-run Twitter account. “Thumbs” managed to entice a visceral reaction from Dacus herself, saying that “like most songs I write, I wasn’t expecting it. It made me feel weird, almost sick,” telling the Rolling Stone. Listen to the original below:

The tour she is to embark on is expansive, covering most of North America and Europe. See ticket information here and tour information below:
* = Indigo De Souza supporting
**= Fenne Lily supporting

02/09/ 2022 – Stage AE – Pitts, PA *
02/10 – Majestic – Detroit, MI *
02/11 – Ovation – Newport, KY *
02/12 – Egyptian Room – Indy, IN *
02/14 – Turner Ballroom Valentine’s Day – Milwaukee, WI *
02/15 – Thalia Hall (Rescheduled Date) – Chicago, IL – SOLD OUT
02/17 – First Ave (Rescheduled Date) – Minneapolis, MN – * – SOLD OUT
02/18 – Englert Theatre – Iowa City, IA (Rescheduled Date) * – SOLD OUT
02/19 – Liberty – Lawrence, KS *
02/20 – Tower Theatre – OK City, OK *
02/23 – Georgia Theatre – Athens, GA – *
02/24 – Orange Peel – Asheville, NC *
02/25 – Jefferson- C-Ville, VA *
02/26 – Stone Pony- Asbury Park, NJ *
03/01 – Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ONT (Rescheduled Date) *
03/02 – Corona Theatre – Montreal, QUE (Rescheduled Date) *
03/03 – The Strand – Providence, RI
03/05 – Ram’s Head – Baltimore, MD
03/18 – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds, UK SOLD OUT
03/19 – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds, UK
03/20 – St. Lukes – Glasgow, UK – SOLD OUT
03/21 – The Button Factory – Dublin, IE **
03/23 – Gorilla – Manchester, UK
03/24 – Trinity – Bristol, UK
03/25 – Kentish Town Forum – London, UK
03/29 – Rotonde – Brussels, BL **
03/30 – Paradiso Noord – Amsterdam, NL **
03/31 – Artheater – Cologne, DE **
04/02 – Molotow – Hamburg, DE **
04/03 – Loppen – Copenhagen, DK **
04/04 – Atlas – Aarhus, DK **
04/06 – Parkteatret – Oslo, NO**
04/07 – Nalen Klubb – Stockholm, SE **
04/09 – Lido – Berlin, DE **
04/10 – Trafo – Jena, DE **
04/11 – Chelsea – Vienna, AT **
04/13 – Milla – Munich, DE **
04/14- Bogen F – Zürich, SU  **
04/15 – La Maroquinerie – Paris, FR **

Boygenius will feature six tracks, three of which were released on the 21st of August 2018. According to NME each artist brought one song and one idea to the recording session, which they then worked on together. The three song released are the Dacus-led “Bite The Hand,” the Bridgers-led “Me & My Dog,” and the Baker-led “Stay Down.”

“When we met, Lucy and Phoebe and I were in similar places in our lives and our musical endeavours, but also had similar attitudes toward music that engendered an immediate affinity. Lucy and Phoebe are incredibly gifted performers, and I am a fan of their art outside of being their friends, but they are also both very wise, discerning and kind people whom I look up to in character as much as in talent,” says Baker.

Speaking about the EP “It seemed obvious to record a 7-inch for tour, although many adult men will try to take credit for the idea,” says Bridgers. “When we got together, we had way more songs than we expected and worked so well together, that we decided to make a full EP. Everyone seemed both confident enough to present ideas and fight for their individual vision, but considerate and humble enough to make decisions which ultimately served the song. It was a process that required a balance of determination and forthrightness with graciousness and pliability, and I think that we all did a good job of enacting that,” Baker continued.

The US tour will see Baker and Bridgers co-headline with support from Dacus. Each musician will play a solo set, while a press release suggests fans “might be able to hear some Boygenius songs along the way.” The trio are set to hit the road on the 4th of  November in Nashville and are expected to conclude their tour on the 30th of November in Los Angeles. While, Bakers UK leg of her tour begins on the 24th of August in Manchester and is set to conclude on the 29th of August in London. Meanwhile, Dacus’ UK leg of her tour begins on the 22nd of September in Norwich and is set to conclude on the 31st of September in London.

Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers with Lucy Dacus — 2018 Tour Dates
04/11/2018 – Ryman Auditorium
06/11 – Brooklyn Steel – New York
07/11 – Brooklyn Steel – New York
08/11 – Orpheum Theatre – Boston
10/11 – Danforth Music Hall – Toronto
11/11 – Majestic Theatre – Detroit
12/11 – Thalia Hall – Chicago
13/11 – Thalia Hall – Chicago
15/11 – The Pageant – St Louis
16/11 – The Sylvee – Madison
17/11  – First Avenue – Minneapolis
19/11 – Ogden Theatre – Denver
20/11 –  The Depot – Salt Lake City
23/11 – Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver
24/11 – The Moore Theatre – Seattle
25/11 –  Crystal Ballroom – Portland
27/11 –  Fox Theatre – Oakland
29/11 – The Observatory North Park – San Diego
30/11 – The Wiltern – Los Angeles

Julien Baker — 2018 Tour Dates
24/09 – Gorilla – Manchester
25/09 – St Luke’s – Glasgow
27/09 – Vicar Street – Dublin
29/09 – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire – London

Lucy Dacus — 2018 Tour Dates
22/10 – Norwich Arts Centre – Norwich
23/10 – Thekla – Bristol
25/10 – The Cookie – Leicester
26/10 – Mono – Glasgow
27/10 – Now Wave – Manchester
29/10 – The Haunt – Brighton
31/10 – Islington Assembly Hall – London