“I’ve never toured like this before,” said Bartees Strange regarding his current three-week jaunt through the Midwest and West Coast. Sunday at Vivarium was the opening night of the singer/songwriter’s first true solo tour; as anyone who’s listened to his albums would expect, he normally plays with a full band. Like a growing number of indie musicians, Strange combines a myriad of genres in his music, and lots of his songs go for big, anthemic moments. Sure, anybody can replicate these moments in their basement studio nowadays, but live performance is another story.
Strange’s 2020 debut Live Forever was mostly a DIY effort; he’s since attracted critical acclaim and hot-shot collaborators, chiefly the ubiquitous Jack Antonoff, who co-produced Strange’s 2025 album Horror. A pivot to folk music was about the last thing fans expected. For all his eccentricities, Strange is a pop singer at heart, and he’s only been on the scene for about five years; it seems way too early for a “play acoustic guitar perched on a stool” tour. “People don’t know that I play guitar, they think I just do stuff on a computer and put songs out,” said Strange before his first song. “So, I was like, ‘Well maybe I’ll just kind of tour and play my songs and show people that I can, like, play music.’”
It was an astute self-assessment. The unpredictable songs and range of vocal delivery evidenced on his studio work, his visual presentation, even choosing “Strange” as his stage name, can come off at times as gimmicky. Even doing quasi-unplugged shows could be construed as a stunt. Are the songs really good, or are they just germs of ideas overstuffed with bombast and noise?
It turns out that the songs stand up incredibly well stripped down. Strange opened the show with his breakout 2020 single “Mustang,” a synth-driven, TV On The Radio-ish banger in its usual form, and although the studio version boasts a passionate vocal, having the lyrics front and center, no driving drumbeat or keyboard hooks, the essence of the song might’ve come across more clearly than ever before.
Strange drew primarily from Horror and his critically-adored 2022 album Farm To Table, revealing the earnest, heartfelt tunes that had grown into dense, eclectic studio creations on those albums, charming the intimate, respectful crowd with conversation in between. “Did the Packers win today?” Strange asked prior to “Oklahoma Drive.”
“We don’t wanna talk about it,” offered one audience member amidst a chorus of groans. Now a Baltimore resident, Strange admitted to only rooting for the Ravens, but professed his love for Antonio Freeman and Dorsey Levens (to appeal to the older Packers fans in the audience?) as well as for his current home city. “It’s super diverse, and affordable, and like, white people are scared of it, which is good for me, helps me afford it.”
Banter about guitar tuning and such may have been an added bonus for hardcore fans, but what stood out much more was the chance to hear Strange’s unadulterated singing. The brand-new EP Shy Bairns Get Nowt gives the world a glimpse of him as folkie crooner; he only played one song off that release at the show, though, and “Ain’t Nobody Making Me High” wasn’t necessarily a highlight of the hourlong set. It was the more road-tested songs that impressed, and Strange’s front-and-center guitar picking. There was no looping, no vocal filters, no pedal board to stomp on; his setup was bare bones, and key Horror tracks like “17” and “Doomsday Buttercup” and “Sober” came off so much more powerfully without all the studio clutter, showcasing Strange’s dynamic and fluid guitar work to much greater effect as well.
He also played a new, unfinished tune called “Running Back,” not a football reference at all but in fact a gentle love song, before wrapping up with “Hennessey,” “Boomer,” and “Escape The Circus.” This last song he halted after the first chorus, saying, “You know what? I’m gonna start this song over. I just don’t like how I played it.” Again, he was right; it was sounding a bit listless, and he sang and played it with more conviction the second time around. Knowing one’s own strengths and weaknesses can be the hardest aspect of show business; it doesn’t appear to be an issue for Strange. He may not possess an earth-shattering voice nor godlike guitar prowess, but Sunday’s performance proved that he’s a very compelling performer even when these are the only instruments available.
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