There may not be a more suitable venue for Alice Phoebe Lou’s Oblivion Tour than Lincoln Theatre. The velvet-lined, gold accented chairs paired with Alice’s stripped down acoustic arrangements created a uniquely soothing experience that a standing show would struggle to recreate. Her distinctively warm, gritty voice flowed through the hall with such gravitational intimacy that the crowd had no choice but to be entranced.
Alice’s set had five distinct sections built into the program on April 15, leading it off with acoustic guitar-driven ballads. During this portion of the show, the audience was silently locked into her performance, without even a sneeze to break the tension. Given the abundance of pollen, it’s genuinely hard to believe. As the set transitioned into Section 2, Electric Guitar Phoebe Lou, Alice began having mini monologues between songs which did a number in loosening everyone up. The first “I love you” from the crowd was shouted during this section, and her reply of “I’m sure I’d love you too” was met with an uproar that resembled the popping of a highly carbonated bottle of champagne.
Watch the official music video for “Oblivion” by Alice Phoebe Lou on YouTube:
From there, Alice moved to one of the most conversational sections of her show, the keyboard-backed tracks. For a moment, the auditorium was transported into Alice’s living room and we were all her long time friends, watching her rehearse for a show. Take the moment where she choked on a lyric, paused the song to acknowledge the mishap, and went right back into performing without skipping a beat. What could have been a stressful moment was instead used as a way to further break whatever remained of the invisible wall separating artist from fan. Up next, she moved into the medley section of the show, where she would bounce around from instrument to instrument and even brought out the opener, John J Andrews, to help her with a handful of songs. As this part of the set progressed and progressed, an underlying anticipation began to brew which led into the final section of the show, the closure.
To begin the powerhouse ending, Alice started with a cover of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, encouraging everyone to sing along to the classic. She followed that with her 2023 hit Open My Door, which was performed karaoke style, using a backing track of the recorded instruments. It gave a taste of what a typical Alice Phoebe Lou show sounds like and contextualized just how unique the Oblivion Tour’s bare bones approach is. For the “encore”, everyone knew what was coming. She never even left the stage and came back, saying she wasn’t really one for theatrics, which felt fitting for the general tone of the show. The closing of the show with a skeletal rendition of Witches was like loosening your belt after a big meal; Sweet release! All three of her final songs were met with such an outpouring of energy that it made sense that she held those for the end, transforming the living room show back to the 1225-seat historical theatre.
Whether you’ve seen her live before or it’s your first show, Alice Phoebe Lou’s Lincoln Theatre performance was a more than welcomed reimagination of her soulful music. Towards the end of the show, she heavily implied that her band Strongboi would likely be in Washington DC sometime this year as well, which would be a treat to fans who want a full production show from one of the most underrated singer-songwriters out there.
Here are some photos of Alice Phoebe Lou — and opener John J Andrews — performing live at Lincoln Theatre on April 15, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Roman Meerzaman.
