Alice Phoebe Lou @ The Vic Theatre
- Ashley Cotton
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
On Wednesday, April 22nd, I was given the amazing opportunity to go to The Vic Theatre to do press coverage for Alice Phoebe Lou. I was joined by a fellow radio member, Shraddha Allu from Chai Chats podcast (go tune in Wednesday's 2 PM!). She also assisted in writing and putting together this blog, and also gets all the photo credits. So welcome to the press pass collab between Collection 33 and Chai Chats and let's give you a run down of the night!
Alice Phoebe Lou
Alice Phoebe Lou came to Chicago for the Oblivion Tour, only playing 16 shows in total in North America. Her album Oblivion came out October 24, 2025. For this tour she originally was joined by John Andrews, but with some last minute changes for the Chicago part, the artist Case Oats took over.
It seems quite odd to have a tour that starts in April for an album that came out in October, but the reasoning is quite simple and it has to do with Alice Phoebe Lou being quite booked up. She was opening some nights for Laufey's "A Matter of Time" Europe tour and this upcoming May she'll be joining Olivia Dean on "The Art of Loving" Tour. Which reminds me of how the first time I saw Alice Phoebe Lou was when she opened for Clairo on her "Charm" Tour back in October of 2024 at Salt Shed.
This is Alice's 6th studio album release, and as she mentioned in the concert itself, she wasn't backed up by a band, she handled all the instrumentals and vocals, something she isn't used to doing. Alice is also known for her role in Strongboi, being one half of the indie pop duo who recently opened for Men I Trust on their North American Tour.
The Venue
This was the first time Shraddha and I went to The Vic Theatre. For me, it reminded me of the Midland Theatre in Kansas City that I've seen a lot of great artists at. It was a bit smaller definitely but from what I recall the layout was definitely the same, except the lobby was a bit smaller. But genuinely if you look up a picture of inside the venue it looks pretty simil
ar. I've always liked venues like that, especially since theres steps in the GA to separate the crowd from being all on the same level, and since I'm relatively not that tall it helped out. Not to mention, I think every tall man in Chicago was at that concert, so it came in handy.
Shraddha also enjoyed the venue, and being an architecture major it piqued her interest. She said "I enjoyed how classic the venue felt, with the marquee lights outside and the big "now showing" sign it felt like I was about to see an old play. The inside was even more captivating. The gold reliefs on the wall really tied into the red and blue color scheme that the venue had. The French revival style with the pop of colors was a breath of fresh air from the modern and stadium venues that I am used to in Saint Louis. One thing that I didn't enjoy was the lobby area. The lobby was tight and it was hard for everyone to disperse post concert. The merch booth had no room for a line so the line went up the stairs which blocked the stairway and some of the exit doors. Other than that, the venue was beautiful and it is a great example of preserved historic architecture." The owners of The Vic Theatre also own Park West venue in Lincoln Park and the Riveria Theatre in Uptown.
Performance
The opener, Case Oats, went on at 7:30, which we did end up missing the first half of accidentally, but from what we heard it was pretty good, she featured songs from her newer album "Last Missouri Exit," and for those who don't know, Shraddha and I are both from Missouri. When we arrived we picked up our GA tickets from will call, and despite the opener having gone on there was still a line to get in. It moved relatively quickly but that is why we missed a small part of the opening set.
Alice really knew how to bring a crowd. As we looked around it seemed that every type of person filled the room. There were groups of friends, couples, and solo attenders of a variety of ages. We also noticed a suspicious amount of tall men. Not saying that tall men can't listen to Alice Phoebe Lou, but it was definitely a surprise. The styles of the crowd varied just as much. There seemed to be a slightly followed uniform of long skirts and whimsical tops, but the rest of the crowd was an enigma.
Alice Phoebe Lou went on at 8:20 on the dot going on until 10 PM, which as she mentioned she had gone over time, and she played a total of 25 songs. In comparison to her other tour dates she would play roughly around 16 songs, so Chicago was definitely showed some favoritism. She made it clear throughout the performance how much she adored the crowd, even saying it felt like she was just playing for a group of friends just hanging out. Saying there wasn't much pressure and the crowd had the perfect balance of singing along and just listening and being respectful.
The set list is as follows:
Hammer
Sailor
Pretender
Angel
Lover/Over the Moon
How to Get Out of Love
Glow
Unfucktheworld (Angel Olsen cover)
Angel (played again)
Velvet Mood
My Girl
Oblivion
Sparkle
Dusk
Old Shadows
Lately
Better
Touch
Halo
Shine
Darling
Mind Reader
Harvest Moon (Neil Young cover)
Open my Door
Encore
Witches
Key:
Shraddha's Favorites
Ashley's Favorites
Both of our Favorites
Like Alice said, the concert really was like a group of friends hanging out. Her chemistry with the crowd came naturally and her carefree nature the concert feel really personal. The setlist started off with some of our favorites (although we both love most of her songs). The setlist started off with some of Shraddha's favorites with Sailor and Angel with one of our favorite's Pretender in between them. The concert started off strong with Alice jamming out solo with her acoustic. She said that she played the songs how they were recorded: with just her and her guitar, which led to a more intimate performance.
The ambiance in the venue throughout Alice's set was ethreal. It was so silent but at the same time you could hear people singing along or watching everyone sway along with the music. Throughout her performance, since she was alone she would switch instruments. Starting with her guitar, moving to the keyboard, even pulling out a synthesizer.
She knew how to keep the crowd interested and surprised everyone by randomly adding in a cover of Angel Olsen's "Unfucktheworld" to her set, something that wasn't seen at other concerts on her tour. And might I just say this cover was amazing, it was unexpected but executed perfectly. Before singing it she mentioned it brought her back to the beginning of her journey of an artist, busking on the streets for money. Saying it felt like that audience in the street she was playing for was just the crowd now and it was an amazing moment for her as an artist to connect her beginning to now, going on tour and completely being solo on stage.
She also sang "My Girl," a song she rarely has ever played before, yet it was quite a fan favorite, and I definitely wasn't expecting her to play it. I will say some of my favorites like "Only when I," and "Nostalgia," were two songs I was somewhat expecting her to play but she didn't. I can't entirely say I'm disappointed though, she was able to fit so many songs into just an hour and 40 minutes while still managing to interact with the crowd and I wouldn't have exchanged that experience for anything else. She asked the crowd if she should play "lately" or "driveby" and everyone yelling at once their preference had me and Shraddha not knowing which one she was going to sing, but luckily for us she sang "lately."
Finally she sang "Open my door," where right before singing she said it was sing-along time, and that's exaclty what the crowd did. For about the last three or four songs she kept mentioning how she had gone over time but still had a few more songs she wanted to fit in for us. For her encore she didn't go off stage due to running over time, instead mentioning how it was her encore that she would have typically gone off stage for. And this was none other than one of her most popular and fan favorite songs, "witches," a song that Shraddha and I both love dearly and sang along to every word.
Even though I personally have heard her perform before during Clairo's Charm Tour, Shraddha hadn't, and it was such a cool experience. Not only that, but since she wasn't opening we got to hear a lot more of her discography and also her newer releases since I last saw her. Overall, this was an amazing experinece and we hope she comes back to Chicago soon.
-AC + Shraddha from Chai Chats Podcast
We wanted to give a special thank you to Alice Phoebe Lou and her management team, The Vic Theatre, and UIC Radio for giving us this amazing opportunity to attend and do press for Alice Phoebe Lou's Oblivion Tour!
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