On April 30, 2025, the Mother Church of Country Music, Ryman Auditorium, was graced by Lucy Dacus on her Forever is a Feeling Tour. This show was the second of a back-to-back booking at the venue, proving Dacus’s popularity in the area. While the tour’s main goal was to promote her new record (the tour’s namesake), Lucy opened with the fan favorite “Hot & Heavy” from her 2021 album Home Video. The thumping chorus set a vibe for the night marked with angelic vocals, expert musicianship, and infectious melodies. Keeping the energy up, Dacus performed one of the most popular songs off of her new record, “Ankles”. This track hides some deeply poetic lyrics, such as “How lucky are we to have so much to lose,” behind a poppy and memorable instrumental that really propelled the set. After a few songs, Dacus announced she would be altering the setlist from the prior night’s show and broke into “Triple Dog Dare” to the audience’s cheers. This song has been an uncommon pick on the tour and was definitely a favorite of the crowd. “Best Guess”, another standout track from the new album, capped this section of the show as the band stripped back the performance into a more acoustic and low-key affair.
Dacus now sat in a plush and ornate couch, ready to perform some of her more intimate tracks. “For Keeps” and “Please Stay” kept the audience engaged before Dacus played one of her earlier tracks, “I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore,” to the audience’s unanimous glee. This classic track was many’s introduction to Dacus and continues to wow with its punchy lyrics and interesting instrumental. When the last note was struck, Lucy announced a friend would be joining her on stage. Joy Oladokun continued to take the stage and perform Dacus’s duet with Hozier entitled “Bullseye”. Joy was tasked with doing “her best Hozier impression,” and the crowd seemed to think she nailed it. I would have to agree! After a couple more songs, Dacus closed the main set with the title track “Forever Is a Feeling”. While this track’s engaging instrumental and slow build could have been a perfect end to the night, there were still two more songs after a brief stage exit. The first track was from Lucy’s supergroup with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, Boygenius. “True Blue” had the entire Ryman singing along at full volume with a variety of tears being shed and phone lights being swayed.
High off the energy from that, the first guitar chords of Dacus’s biggest song, “Night Shift”, started to ring through the auditorium. This slow melodic build allowed the crowd to really sit with the lyrics on love lost and trying to avoid a past flame. The music continued to rise until it exploded into the last few choruses, where the entire audience screamed “So I’ll take the night shift” with varying levels of vocal fry from singing all night. All the lights turned red as the band crashed into the epic finale. As the last words were sung and the last chords were struck, a roar fell over the crowd as Dacus left the stage, cementing her place as an indie-scene legend and bona fide rockstar.
- Thomas W. Hagan
Photos Courtesy of Lillie Hollabaugh (For Bell Music Magazine)
