On Saturday evening, New York-based indie-rockers Big Thief played their highly anticipated hometown gig at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens. This concert is part of their ongoing Somersault Slide 360 tour, which started in mid-September, promoting the band's latest and sixth studio album, Double Infinity.

Starting at 7:30, the four members, Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, James Krivchenia, and their new bassist, Joshua Crumbly, walked up to the stage and played a few cuts of 2022's Dragon New Warm Mountain, I Believe In You. Things started slow and chill,with "Change" coasting into a heavy rendition of "Vampire Empire", resulting in one of the biggest, most dramatic sing-along moments of the show.

The band also premiered a new song, "Muscle Memory", which they've road-tested a few times on this tour already to a very positive reception.

Moving the ball forward, the extended version of the song "Dragon New Warm Mountain" felt like a transcendental journey, where only Adrianne and Joshua are playing for the first part, before the rest of the band joins in for an elongated jam. They then broke into "Spud Infinity", which had the entire crowd moving and energized.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Forest Hills Stadium (@foresthillsstadium)

However, this stop on the tour contained a huge, yet welcome surprise – one that they're not repeating for the rest of the tour dates.

After "Spud Infinity" ended, Adrianne took the time to mention all the guest musicians and vocalists who worked on their latest album, Double Infinity, before proceeding to invite all those artists onstage. The roster of vocalists included new-age artist Laraaji, who features on their track "Grandomother", as well as vocalists Alena Spanger, Hannah Cohen, and June McDoom. In addition, studio musicians, including Caleb Michel, Jon Nellen, Mikel Patrick Avery, and Mikey Buishas, were invited onto the stage with the setup tripling in size.

Then, Adrianne said, "We're gonna play the record now."

Yes. Out of all the dates on the tour, the Forest Hills crowd was the first to hear the album played in its entirety, with all twelve musicians coming together for a unique performance.

The band ran through lively renditions of the first three tracks in a pretty straightforward fashion. It felt like most of the audience knew this album off the back of their minds, like they were preparing for this moment, and when they started playing, you could feel the collective release of energy radiating throughout the stadium.

"All Night All Day" and the title track followed, with some chill vibes around the audience. The place was fully lit up with cell phone lights during the latter song, feeling the warmth of the music and the collective presence of each other. And as if things weren't chill enough, the full ensemble broke into an extended version of "No Fear", and even though it's both the longest and most low-key track on the project, the full, large-scale setup put the entire crowd in a state of musical hypnosis. It was a vibe that was tough to escape from, but it had the crowd locked in the entire time. It might've been the closest the audience got to being one with the music.

Then "Grandmother" followed, and the band is back in full swing and feeling re-energized after the cooldown. The energy is gradually raised as everyone in the band and in the crowd was singing "Gonna turn it into rock n' roll" over Laraaji's soulful wails and vocalizations. Adrianne and Buck took the time to thank the fans, friends, and family within the audience before closing the set with the last two tracks on the album, "Happy With You" and "How Could I Have Known", and departing.

Around 9:20, the band came back onstage with a three-song encore. The first was another new track they've been road testing and only involved the four core members. But for the final two songs of the show, "Not" and "Masterpiece", the extended band was brought back to the stage to join them in closing with two highly-regarded fan favorites.

There's a simple formula that makes Big Thief shows as joyous and cathartic as they are: peace, love, and rock n' roll. Those vibes were all checked off last night, and with the inclusion of the "Double Infinity Band," they took their sound and fit it for a stadium, resulting in a unique gig for the group. Hopefully, this isn't the last time they pull a similar trick.

Main Setlist:
Change
Vampire Empire
Simulation Swarm
Muscle Memory (new song)
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
Spud Infinity
Incomprehensible
Words
Los Angeles
All Night All Day
Double Infinity
No Fear
Grandmother
Happy With You
How Could I Have Known

Encore:
Forgive the Dream (new song)
Not
Masterpiece