Review: Lucy Dacus at Asheville Yards
The rise of Lucy Dacus has been as welcome as it is surprising.
An indie darling since Matador Records signed her in 2016, the soft-singing songwriter/guitarist has excelled in headlining slots at The Grey Eagle (2019) and as the first touring act to play Rabbit Rabbit, opening for Bright Eyes in 2021, yet few folks could have predicted that she’d ascend to the level of having scream-friendly fans who crowd in close to the stage and shout every word to every song.
Such is the perk of even tangential ties to Taylor Swift (thanks, Phoebe Bridgers!), and those of us lucky enough to see boygenius at Harrah’s Cherokee Center — Asheville in 2023 are perhaps a little less surprised that such pandemonium has followed Dacus to her solo career.
Back in town as a headliner for the first time since her sonically rich but visually compromised 2022 “sofa tour,” during which she performed supine on a couch on The Orange Peel stage while recovering from multiple herniated discs in her back, Dacus funneled her diverse local experiences into a cool, confident, and crowd-friendly Sept. 23 set at the outdoor venue she helped break in (now known as Asheville Yards) — and it was still a bit surreal to witness the level of Lucymania that she inspires.
Not that she doesn’t deserve it — Dacus has been an important voice for the LGBTQ+ community all along, and the parallel rise of her now partner (and boygenius bandmate) Julien Baker and their individual and joint anthems of queer life have empowered an unfairly maligned community.
Backed by thoughtful projections of framed artwork that changed throughout the night, Dacus and her tight band focused on songs from her two most recent albums, Forever is a Feeling (2025) and Home Movies (2021). But it was the special guests she invited to the stage who made the show truly special.
Around the performance’s halfway point, prior to starting “Best Guess,” Dacus invited six well-dressed queer couples onstage, who proceeded to dance to the beat. Then, during an extended instrumental section, Dacus did what she does during that selection and officiated their marriages. Considering the constantly revved-up war against gay marriage, a famous person granting legal unions while they’re still legal is a bold move of revolutionary love that naturally went over well in this cesspool of sin and was a pleasure to witness.
A handful of songs later, after shifting to the onstage couch and making light of her history with such furniture, Dacus brought out fellow queer ally Moses Sumney (who, like fellow transplant Angel Olsen, may or may not still live in Asheville) to join her on the sofa for a lovely duet of “Bullseye,” filling in for Hozier. It was a thrill to see Sumney perform, especially since he seems more interested in acting these days, and sparked hope that new music could be on the horizon.
While many other works that made the cut fall under the “this sounds a lot like the pleasant song you just played” banner, Dacus saved her best for last with an unfair one-two punch of an encore, featuring her boygenius lead “True Blue” and what’s still her greatest hit, the steadily-building breakup anthem “Night Shift.”
It wasn’t enough for a cis white man to uncontrollably scream about, but plenty convincing to see why someone not in this most boring and privileged of brackets would let loose at the top of their lungs.
(Distant-ass photo by Edwin Arnaudin)
