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“Forever Is a Feeling,” Lucy Dacus promised in the romantic-sounding title of her 2025 solo album. Feelings are transitory things, of course, and some of the good ones must come to an end, which is why Dacus is commemorating
the end of that era Sunday night with a show at the Hollywood Bowl that will find her accompanied by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra as well as her touring band. There won’t even be a mid-section where she sends all lthe string and horn players off to take five while she just performs with the band; it’s going to sound lush — and/or, as she promises, “weird” — from start to finish.
Variety spoke with Dacus in the final stages of preparing for this show, discussing what she learned from an earliier incarnation of an orchestra show she did in Chicago; whether she was actually taking requests for this gig; how it feels to return to the site where Boygenius last performed together, three years ago; her side gig presiding over weddings; performing for Mayor Mandani’s inauguration, and much more.
Recently on social meida you posted a billboard that you or someone took out that said, “Forever is coming to an end,” or something like that.
“Forever Is Over.”
“Forever Is Over,” right. Very poetically spoken. But hopefully not in real life.
Hopefully not in real life, no.
Is that how you’re thinking of this Hollywood Bowl show, as the grand climax to an era for you?
Yeah, it’s the last show of “Forever Is a Feeling,” and I really don’t have many plans ongoingly, which kind of freaks me out. But I do feel like I need to mentally understand that it’s over in order to make anything new. So, I think I’ll be really emotional on the day.
I love symphonic shows with the artists I love. I just was at the Bowl and I saw Foo Fighters with an orchestra.
Cool.
I’m looking forward to yours more, but it was fun still.
I won’t tell them.
We’ll keep that between us. Anyway, you have had a head start now on this, having done an orchestral show in Chicago. Does that make it feel like, you have this aced, it’s gonna go great, we already had a test run on this?
I learned a lot. I never realized that the musicians don’t look at the material until the day-of, usually. And you get one rehearsal, which is soundcheck, and they’re all just pros and they’re sight reading. That really freaked me out because usually with the band, we’ll practice for a week or more before a tour, and that’s only five people. And I think it’s 50 people on stage for this, and I’m very impressed, and it’s musicianship that feels completely different from what I do. And I have been taking singing lessons trying to prepare, because you have to sing a little bit differently with the orchestra in order to feel like you’re with them and not being completely swallowed by them. So I think that this show will be better than Chicago, just because I was so freaked out in Chicago; now I know how it works.
I hadn’t heard of anybody going so far as to take singing lessons to learn how to mesh. Do you feel like you figured that out, what the trick is?
My violinist, Phoenix Rousiamani, did all the arrangements, and she’s brilliant and one of the coolest musical minds I’ve ever known. And the arrangements are weird. They’re not exactly like “Oh, we applied a strings filter to my catalog.” They use really interesting instrument choices and, in some cases, it’s almost like the song is rearranged and has a completely different feel. So I listen to digital bounces of what she did, and I sing to that, and I try to kind of adjust my dynamics to the dynamics that she wrote.
Some people play the Hollywood Bowl with an orchestra and they’re thinking, “Oh, we’ll just add on some parts that make this feel a little more cinematic,” without reconfiguring anything that they would normally do underneath that. Were you were thinking of song choices that would be most conducive to some sort of approach you wanted to bring?
Yeah. Phoenix and I listened to everything I’ve ever put out together, and Phoenix was like, “Actually, this song has potential. This song has potential.” And there are more songs that we’re gonna do in L.A. than we did in Chicago. Some of those song choices have to do with songs that I want to play before I stop playing shows for a while. And I have a couple specific songs in mind that I want to sing to people who I know are coming — like, family and friends that I know that they really care about certain songs. So as sort of a gift to them, I was like, “I want to be able to sing this to you in the most dramatic way possible.”
You were on social media a while back when these shows were being announced saying, “Do you guys have anything you wanna hear in this format?” We might have taken that as a token request, assuming you probably already had these arrangements mapped out for a year or something. But you meant it when you were taking suggestions, even though nothing about this suggests something you could rethink on the spur of the moment?
I feel like I wouldn’t like myself very much if I just emptily asked questions of people like that. But the thing that came around to bite me is that almost every song was requested. So I was like, “Oh, I guess this is for naught.” But I did make some choices because I had all the song names, and then I’d put a tally whenever I saw someone say it. I asked what people wanted, and then a couple days later, I probably spent two hours just scrolling and making tally marks, and the songs that had the most tallies, we definitely prioritized.
Was there a runaway favorite people asked for that might’ve been unexpected and not necessarily your most popular song?
Let me look back in my Notes app. I think “Triple Dog Dare” is one that was never a single. It’s really long. I’m really happy, though, that people pull that one out because it’s also one that I like to sing. Let’s see, what else did people say? People say “Kissing Lessons,” so we brought that back, which is fun. Those are the probably two main ones.
Oftentimes there’ll be a Boygenius song in your set, and in at least some of the normal sets we can look up online, it’ll be “True Blue” or something, which is an obvious choice. But then in Chicago you had “Afraid of Heights,” which was an interesting choice and something that came out kind of late in the Boygenius cycle, so you probably wouldn’t have had a lot of chance to play that anyway. Is that something where you thought, “I want a Boygenius song in here to represent that period, but not one they might expect?”
Well, Chicago and Toronto were the only cities that I played twice on this album cycle, in terms of a big production. And people had already heard “True Blue” [in the previous Chicago appearance], and I do like to do one Boygenius song that I wrote. I wrote “True Blue” and I wrote “Afraid of Heights,” so those feel like fair game. I guess anything would be fair game, but it’s nice for me mentally because it feels like my brain switches to a different context, and it’s almost like a little personal intermission to play a Boygenius song and then get back into it. To be clear, though, that [performance of the song in Chicago] was with my band — we had a little couch-section intermission — so the orchestra didn’t do “Afraid of Heights.” But there are some lines in that song that I’m proud of, so I was happy to sing it.
Will it be similar at the Hollywood Bowl, with an orchestra-free couch section in the middle?
No couch anymore. We did that [in Chicago] because Phoenix very impossibly arranged all of this music in a very short amount of time, compared to how long people usually have. And so now Phoenix has had time to round out the entire set, and so that’s why there’s gonna be more songs.
Can you say how many songs you ended up arranging for the Bowl show?
I don’t know how many songs, but I do know that the librettos are 300 pages. Which is really impressive.
The Hollywood Bowl is not unfamiliar territory for you, with Boygenius having played there, but this is a very different sort of situation. So do you have any feelings about how it feels comfortable ground — “I know this; I made this place my home” — versus still being kind of awed by it in some way?
I would not say that I am comfortable. I remember playing the Hollywood Bowl with Boygenius on Halloween in 2023, and I had never even been there before. I didn’t understand what we were walking into. And I feel like through the show, I couldn’t process how beautiful it was and the significance of the place. And also, that was our last show, and I was just crying all day. So there’s a part of me that is like, when I arrive, am I gonna be flooded with all of these memories that are gonna be inconvenient for my composure throughout the day? So to finish an album cycle there again does feel like it rhymes with the past. But maybe it’s just a place where I’m supposed to cry. The other time that I went there was for the Joni Mitchell show, where I also cried a lot. So don’t be disappointed if I cannot keep myself together. I’m gonna try my best.
It’s hard to believe it’s been three years, almost, since the Boygenius Hollywood Bowl show, and the end of Boygenius for the time being. That was such an intense cycle for you guys. Are you kind of enjoying the relief of doing something else? Or how do you think back on that now since it was so focused for a while?
I don’t know if I would say it’s a relief in either direction, to do something else or to do Boygenius, or to stop either. I guess I feel the most relief when I’m making things. And so it’s actually like I’m approaching this uncomfortable feeling of being done because I’m like, I want to do this. I want to do shows; I want to make things and keep moving. And slowing down is uncomfortable for me. So I hope that I can at least learn something from it.
Just wrapping up on the Boygenius subject for a second, you’re on Phoebe’s album, and surely you have a strong impression of it. Do you have a thumbnail review of her album, as a friend and a fan?
I think it’s an instant classic, and I think that she takes her time for a reason, and it’s gonna stand the test of time.
To rewind to “Forever Is a Feeling,” one of my favorite albums in the last few years, you must have been gratified with the reaction to that. Most fans probably considered it your best album, which, after a while away, has to be what you’re hoping for. In Chicago, again, looking at that setlist, you were doing nine songs from it, maybe even more elsewhere. You must feel as highly about it as your fans do.
That’s really sweet to say. I feel like it’s a confirmation bias where anyone that shows up to the show loves it, so I don’t really have a finger on the pulse of anything beyond that. But the songs are so special to me on a personal level, and to watch them become special to other people on a personal level throughout this year and year and a half, it’s like one of the magical parts of music — like, they don’t really feel like my life anymore. It feels like just these ideas that all of us can relate to and incorporate into our lives, and that makes me feel connected to everyone that listens to them. And, I don’t know — just in the eternal fight against loneliness, it’s a win.
Just thinking back on the songs I love on that album, I guess the two that I [most come back to just thinking about in my daily life are “Best Guess” and “Big Deal.” And that must mean I’m a romantic, since those are both kind of swooning in their own way. Although I misunderstood “Big Deal” a little bit when it came out. I saw you mention in a recent interview that it’s a song that was misunderstood in some ways. I was thinking it was after a relationship, looking back on it, but then it was more sort of anticipating or thinking something was gonna happen and then it never did — at least up to that point. Anyway, both very moving songs that must be concert favorites, right?
Thank you. Yeah, I mean, “Big Deal” is about sort of realizing you have all these feelings, but making all of these efforts to keep it from affecting your life, because you’re not ready for change. But that’s interesting you like those two songs, because it feels like the record starts with “Big Deal,” where you’re not open to feeling what you actually feel, and then “Best Guess” is when you give into it and are like, “You know what? You’re the only future that I’ll accept, and you’re the only thing that makes sense to me in this moment.” And I think that “Big Deal” with the orchestra is my favorite version of it, even more than the recording, and so I’m thankful to Phoenix for that.
And then “Best Guess” means so much now because of all the weddings that I did on stage to that song. And I actually got to see my kindergarten teacher get married to her wife. They’ve been together for, I think, over 30 years, and I was able to go when I was in Richmond, and their first dance was to “Best Guess.” And I was just like, “Who’d have thought when I was 5 years old that I’d be able to write a song that could make my kindergarten teacher happy on this special day?” And so as time goes on, more meaning becomes attached to each of the songs, and it’s part of why I keep doing this at all, is just because that process is really beautiful and humbling.
Did you sing for your kindergarten teacher for the first dance, or did they just play the recording of the song?
No, they were like, “You don’t need to sing. Don’t worry.” But I did stand by and give them a thumbs up.
And how many weddings have you done now, do you know?
I think it was over 300 people that we married last year.
Some of those had to have been mass weddings.
Yeah. They were definitely multiple people at the same time.
Going back to the Bowl show, you have Cat Power opening. Assuming that was your choice, does that performance has some meaning to you?
Well, someone on my team was like, “What about Cat Power?” And I was sort of like, “Yeah, right.” And they were like, “Do you want us to ask?” And I was like, “Sure,” just thinking that she wouldn’t say yes, because to me she’s a legend. But she wants to do it, and I have planned my day around making sure that I get to watch her set. Like, there’s a lot going on, but I was like from, you know, from 7 to 8 or 8 to 9 or whatever, I will be watching “The Greatest” by Cat Power. I’ve met her once or twice before, and I just think that her voice and her songwriting and her presence are unmatched. And yeah, that’s another thing that I have against me on the day ,is that I might get so emotional watching that that my show kind of sucks. We’ll see.
Well, it’s good you mapped it out, that you’re gonna take a time-out there. Since “Planting Tomatoes” was the one new song you’ve had out this year, is that one you’re doing in the L.A. set? It wasn’t in the Chicago orchestral performance.
I think we’re undecided about that one. I have some ideas for how it could be, but that one is yet to be determined. I can say this: I think that there’s a song that isn’t out yet that will be played at the show.
Your fans are already asking if they’ll get a live record of this. Any chance of that?
I would say not this show. We looked into it. I mean, there’s boring answers for why it can’t happen. But I would love to document these arrangements someday somehow, which we’ve been talking about, but currently no plans.
I know there’s something weird about getting the rights for Hollywood Bowl live albums. Anyway, hope you get a shot at it.
I know. I’m trying my best.
“Planting Tomatoes,” there’s a lot of your philosophy in that song. Like a lot of your songs, there’s kind of a leavened quality of hope, or it’s cautiously hopeful, or hopefully cautious. There’s a lot of dealing with dark feelings, but with a lot of uplift — that seems to be something you gravitate toward, that’s really embodied in that song.
Thank you. I feel like I write a lot in my personal life just sitting in the depths of how I feel, and then when I end up writing something that gets to the other side of the depths, it feels more useful somehow to other people. Then again, a lot of the music I love just sits with you in the darkest things, and I’ve been thinking about that recently — if that has its own use. Or, why am I so focused on having something useful to say. But, we all know that there’s just endless strife and struggle and grief, but we have to keep living. So basically, the question of how to carry on and actually enjoy this life and stay connected to what matters to us, that’s kind of an ongoing question that will hopefully have a thousand answers every day. And that song kind of was at least one answer on one day.
I appreciate that… and I also appreciate the songs that stay at the bottom, too.
Yeah. Likewise.
Of course, in recapping your year to date, you sang for the New York mayor’s inauguration. Was that one of the highlights of your year?
That was, like, the first — I mean, it was literally New Year’s Day, I believe. Yeah, that really set the tone for the year. I don’t think I’ve been so nervous in my entire life, or as cold, gosh, ever. But I think Mandami’s been doing such a great job in New York and I felt so honored to be included, and I hope that the whole world is seeing what’s possible through what he’s doing. And credit to him for choosing “Bread and Roses,” which is a song I love. But it was his idea and a really inspiring song.
You’ve done a lot of playing this year. Do you have a favorite performance up to the Hollywood Bowl?
Ooh. There’s so many answers I could give. In general, I loved playing the museums and churches at the beginning of this. It wasn’t the full outfit, but we got to exist in some pretty reverent spaces, or I guess I felt reverent within them. Honestly, just recently we played Asbury Park at the Stone Pony Summer Stage, and that was, like, the last show of our proper bus touring with the band, and it was crazy. I was on my ass singing “Night Shift,” and my guitar tech had to come hold the microphone in front of my face. Ratboys and Smidley were running around on stage. My dad was there, and a lot of friends came from Philly. I don’t know, just those moments that I hope the show is good for other people, but I am self-indulgently just enjoying acting up with my friends.
At the begining of this you sounded a little nervous about not knowing what comes next, but maybe it can be good to know that you don’t have a lot on your agenda after this and that maybe that leaves you wide open for some great ideas.
Yeah. We’ll see what comes to catch me. I feel like I’m falling, and that hopefully something will just swoop under me and pick me up.
