Words and Photos by Katherine Cardinale
Julien Baker just concluded the third sold out night of her Cambridge, Massachusetts residency as part of her Fall 2026 tour. This intimate run of shows featured both new and old songs, a full band, and support from the local Boston band, Future Teens.
Future Teens was established a decade ago and describes their music to be “bummer pop.” The band lineup is composed of guitarists/vocalists Daniel Radin and Amy Hoffman and drummer Colby Blauvelt. Their latest album, Still Life, discusses themes like identity, shame, anger, grief, regret, and hope. Their opening set was energetic and captivating, with the audience jumping and dancing along to their songs.
Up next was Julien and her band; they opened with the unreleased track “Lathe,” which was followed by “High in the Basement” and “Middle Children.” Each of these songs are speculated to be on her unannounced forthcoming album, and she has been playing the latter two songs since her fall 2024 tour.
After these songs, the band took a trip down memory lane with “Sprained Ankle,” which is the title track of Julien’s first studio album, which was first released independently via Bandcamp in 2014. Other older releases, including “Bloodshot,” “Even,” and “Favor” were also played during this part of the night.
Julien surprised the audience once again by playing the unreleased tracks listed as “F,” “G,” and “O” respectively on the setlist. These songs are being played live for the first time on this tour (in addition to “Lathe”), and have been met with warm reception from fans. They lean into the heavier sound that Julien began to explore with her third studio album, Little Oblivions, and many fans are hoping to hear more of this sound on her new music.
Later in the set Julien introduced her band members, some of whom have been playing music with her since they were all teenagers. She spoke about the importance of these friendships and live music in general, which resonated deeply with the crowd.
The set concluded with more previously released songs, with the highlight of the evening being a full band rendition of “Everybody Does,” which was first in this way during an overseas leg of her Little Oblivions tour. This is one of her biggest songs, and fans sang along as loudly as they could to the lyrics. It made for a great moment during the show and was representative of the power that live music has on people.
Julien’s headline tour continues across the United States, and she has a slot at Primavera Sound festival in 2027. Be sure to purchase your tickets here! Hope to see you out there.
