This changed on May 8, when mysterious flyers appeared in Roswell, New Mexico, announcing a show that same day at the Liberty, a venue that draws a few hundred people. Similar smaller pop-ups announced by flyer have followed in locations from Lubbock, Texas to Macon, Georgia. On Thursday, another pop-up — announced via flyer — is taking place in a decidedly larger venue: Madison Square Garden, where Tidal is a sponsor and tickets are $1.
Yet despite them playing nearly 20 shows, I haven’t heard a single note of new music. No recording is allowed, concert goers must keep their phones in the Yonder pouch. The lack of information has turned fans into investigators trying to determine where the next show will take place and whether a new album is coming.
“When there’s a wealth of music and content, scarcity becomes a powerful tool,” says culture marketing strategist Jesse Sachs. In turn, this can help artists make their work stand out in the omnichannel age.
“So many rollouts have defied the normal Internet cycle,” says TwilightXGalaxy, a moderator of the Phoebe Bridgers subreddit, who asked to remain anonymous to maintain her privacy. “The information is limited, fragmented and sometimes only available to those physically present, which has made every new detail all the more important.”
He says that with the daily influx of information and engagement online, “a surprise announcement turned into a full-scale community espionage project.”
That detective work included a daily thread of show speculation that included educated guesses based on a theory that Bridgers was playing along with his history of UFO sightings, as well as a good deal of wishcasting. Group chats began to emerge as people began touring their cities to show flyers in real life. People have been digitally compiling photos of cards given out at the show that appear to be part of a larger picture – possibly an album cover – and speculating on musical themes.
As a fan, I wasn’t above a little light detective work myself. Did I ask Claude to make a list of possible California tour stops based on the fan theory that she was playing places with UFO sightings? Was I willing to drive eight hours to Area 51 to see him live with a few hundred people? Yes I did, and yes I was.
Unfortunately, my investigation yielded no results, but LeAnna Chase Williams, a Cincinnati-based content creator, managed to crack the code. She speculated on a venue called Burl’s in Lexington, Kentucky – the town where she grew up – as a possible next tour stop after the Chattanooga, Tennessee, show.
Chase Williams was following the tour as it moved through the Southeast and Appalachia. Lexington is less than five hours from Chattanooga and is a college town, a common theme for many of Bridgers’ shows. Burl is “one of the only great indie music venues in the Lakes,” says Chase Williams, “and when I looked at their schedule of events and saw that they randomly had no shows booked for the next day, I knew something was up.”
She drove up on May 22 and waited for hours in the rain with dozens of other fans who had made the same bet, and was rewarded when Bridgers’ entourage arrived with a poster announcing the show.
She describes watching Bridgers perform while sitting on a couch in front of an audience of about 200 as “the best.” “The no-phone policy affected the whole experience,” says Chase Williams, 26. “I really wish every concert was like this, experiencing it now.”
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