Julien Baker Was Phoebe Bridgers’ Surprise Opener And The Two Played A Song Together

A mere two hours before doors opened to her show this past Friday at Berkeley’s open air Greek Theatre, Phoebe Bridgers sent a cryptic tweet to stoke the fire of the evening, writing, “get to the show early tonight trust me.”

So for the lucky folks in the sold out 8,500-capacity crowd who wised up and listened to Bridgers and indeed got there early, they were treated to a surprise opening set from her Boygenius bandmate, Julien Baker. Baker played a clean eight song set that was heavy on material from her 2016 breakthrough Sprained Ankle, including the title track, “Everybody Does,” “Blacktop,” “Good News,” and “Something.”

To close out Baker’s set, Bridgers joined her on stage for a cover of Loudon Wainwright III’s 1985 track “One Man Guy,” a song that also appeared on Rufus Wainwright’s (Loudon’s son) 2001 album Poses (which would explain why Bridgers told the crowd it was a Rufus song.)

The pair did not stop there with the surprises however, as Baker joined Bridgers for HER set too. Playing guitar on “Graceland Too” and “I Know The End” (the closing tracks from Bridgers’ 2020 album Punisher.) You can watch that performance in the video clip below.

Bridgers, who performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week, has three remaining appearances in 2021: At the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on 10/21 and 10/22 and at Atlanta’s Shaky Knees festival on October 24.