Review: Phoebe Bridgers takes Chicago off-the-grid for a phone-free ‘Lost Weekend’

With a strict no-phones policy, a heap of ethereal indie-folk-rock cuts and a set design that could convince someone they had an encounter of the third kind, singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers took fans off the grid for an emotional stop on her headlining arena tour at the United Center on Saturday.

Bridgers held court on two stages, one anchored by her nine-piece band, and the other mostly reserved for more stripped-down arrangements. A gulf of adoring fans separated the two raised platforms, as thousands in the arena’s seats watched with full attention — low-lit masses devoid of the white glow of a cellphone screen. All eyes were trained on the 32-year-old singer-songwriter who wore a gray quarter-sleeved dress with sparkling makeup that looked like tears dried in silver.

Bridgers’ legion surrendered their phones at the UC’s front gates to security, who also quickly sealed smartwatches and other devices in a Yondr pouch connected to a lanyard that some wore around their necks like a dog cone. Others excitedly draped the pouch like a cross-body bag as if it were a welcomed part of the tour, which has been shrouded in mystery for fans clamoring for details online.

“I already feel like crying,” one woman told her friends through a big smile, clutching her pouch on the way toward a long merch line.

It wasn’t clear on Saturday where one could go if they needed to unlock their pouch. Security told a Sun-Times reporter that they’d unlock the phone in an emergency, “but for text sending, go to the atrium.”

While Bridgers is not the first entertainer to use Yondr pouches, her choice is notable because of her Gen Z-Millennial fan base. That much was clear during Bridgers’ 2021 Pitchfork Fest performance in Union Park, where hundreds of phones went up to film the chorus of “Kyoto,” one of her most popular songs.

“Kyoto” was still one of Saturday night’s biggest sing-alongs, but it was striking to scan the crowd and see seemingly everyone hands-free, lifting their voices and moving to the music. Security armed with binoculars and radios also scanned, ready to toss any scofflaws.

Additionally, the mass chorus was a clear testament to Bridgers’ sky-rocketing fame in the last 10 years, with career highs that include the release of three solo albums and Grammy Award-winning collaborations with R&B songstress SZA — and fellow folk-rockers Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus via their side project boygenius.

Saturday marked the second of Bridgers’ two-night stint at the UC for her “Lost Tour,” in support of her first solo full-length album in six years. “Lost Weekend,” released Aug. 14, has the type of raw lyricism and sweeping arrangements that have endeared Bridgers to an ardent fan base — and builds on those themes of love and loss to reach acceptance, aided by a progressive blend of synth beds and folk rock instrumentation.

The show began with the low chromatic tones of Bridgers’ voice through a vocoder on “The Outside,” sounding like a millennial Laurie Anderson, as the crowd hushed to near silence and faced a mysterious dome covering the main stage. The song transported fans to her father’s funeral in 2023, when she sang: “One more time for old time’s sake, I’ll watch him get carried away,” employing a devastating dark humor to process loss and a complicated relationship.

She continued that exercise over the course of her stellar, hour-and-forty-five-minute set on Saturday, a show that successfully took the quietness of her guitar-driven songs to flashy arena-headlining heights without sacrificing the intimacy she has become known for.

Though the United Center might be one of the worst-sounding venues in Chicago, a place where a snare might hit you three beats later, Bridgers and her band overcame the sonic obstacle to deliver fully realized interpretations from her catalog. That was a credit to key members like Madden Kass on drums and frequent collaborator Melina Duterte, also known as Jay Som, deftly juggling trumpet, acoustic guitar and synths.

The dome covering the main stage would eventually steam and slowly lift, revealing Bridgers and co. once they kicked into “Motion Sickness,” eliciting loud cheers as she guided them through a set list featuring a balance of new songs from “Lost Weekend,” and passionate sing-alongs of her older material.

Throughout the night, the stage’s dome would at times hover directly above Bridgers and her band, like a spaceship ready to collect, or tilt back to resemble a planetarium with celestial projections. A ball of light hung above the second stage, just past mid-court, like an extraterrestrial tool that would cast multicolor eruptions and shades of a pale blue motif.

About midway through her set on Saturday, Bridgers took the second stage for a particularly gutting string of songs, including “Funeral” (2017), about depression and grief, and “Graceland Too” (2020), about unending support for a loved one enduring mental health crises. Band members accompanied her with a fiddle, electric upright bass and banjo. When the crowd wasn’t singing along, they were virtually silent, save for a smattering of sniffles.

“We all crying!” a fan could be heard telling a teary friend.

Alone on the second stage, Bridgers elaborated on her decision to ban phones, explaining that she’s had a hard few years, acknowledging that many people share that same experience. For her, she said, processing the death of her dad amid outside attention feels impossible — it’s hard to cry with camera phones trained on you, she said, though she “knows it’s annoying to give up your phone for a couple of hours.” That people were willing to come and do that meant a lot to her, she said to cheers.

“Shoutout to anyone who has a complex relationship with their parents. I love you,” she said, before going into “Still Standing,” a heart-wrenching song about her father. “I can’t imagine you dead, but you are every day — thank you for everything,” she sang to a reverently silent arena that flickered in various places with fans holding lighters.

She followed with another heartbreaker on “As Above,” her voice rising from its signature whisper to belt: “You won’t have to believe in magic, leave it to me and I’ll make it happen.” Her band pounded away on the main stage, and a glitter-like material fell above her, looking like stardust. She left for a cleared path in the crowd to join her band, still chanting the chorus, her arms outstretched, touching hands reaching for her like some melancholy messiah.

Spending a largely distraction-free night with Bridgers’ music means a soul-wrenching dive into the depths of the musician’s emotional interior and your own. That made the moment she burst onto the main stage with “Bobby,” a major-key ode to finding new love, feel all the more hard-won. “This could be the end of wanting,” Bridgers sang, eyes closed.

One of her final songs of the night, “I Know the End,” from 2020’s “Punisher,” concluded with her leading the room in a guttural scream — a release after a night of hard emotional labor.

Back on the second stage with “Scott Street” from her 2017 debut “Stranger in the Alps,” she capped the night with the house lights up for one last sing-along, bodies swaying. It was the kind of thing many might reach for their phones to capture, but on Saturday, it was a moment, then a memory.

“Thank you for an incredible two nights, Chicago!” Bridgers said while exiting, as her band played her out and sang: “Never going back again, the way it used to be is not that way it is,” driving home a reality for concertgoers.

Aside from any merch or dried tears fans headed home with, the last two nights in Chicago are now a memory, and over time, might fade into a lost weekend.

Phoebe Bridgers set list for Sept. 19, 2026 show at United Center

Motion Sickness
The Governor’s Waltz
Lost Boys
DVD Menu (instrumental)
Garden Song
Moon Song
Liberty Tree
Panorama (instrumental)
Lost Weekend
Funeral
Graceland Too
Haunted
Still Standing
As Above
Bobby
Sidelines
Georgia
I Can’t Wait
On Video
Kyoto
I Know the End
Lost Weekend (Reprise)
Scott Street
Never Going Back!