Thousands of die-hard fans descended upon Forest Hills Stadium on Saturday (6/17) for day two of multi-city Re:SET concert series’ NYC stop, featuring an absolutely stacked bill: Bartees Strange, Dijon, Clairo, and headliner boygenius. Each brought a full band, with Dijon digging into some electronics and Clairo featuring a full range of woodwinds. Clairo was the perfect warm up for boygenius with her ’70s rock and smooth jazz influenced performance, which reached back to early singles. She stuck mainly to material from 2021’s excellent Sling, with some fan-favorites in the mix — viral hits “Sofia” and “Pretty Girl” were absent, but the loving crowd appreciated the whole set, particularly “Alewife,” “Blouse,” and closer “Bags.” Claire and her band weathered a swell of rain through the middle of their set, with sound flaring at one point due to wind, but they held strong through the whole show.

boygenius’ set began with a land acknowledgement and song by Tecumseh Ceaser, indigenous educator and member of the Matinecock Turkey clan, raising awareness for water pollution and environmental conservation. Then, after their usual intro music (Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town”) played over the PA, Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus took the stage. They are, in fact, nothing short of a supergroup, and that is most evident at their live show. They brought a full band, including Melina Duterte (aka Jay Som, who worked on The Record with them), and the three of them played guitar (and Julien some banjo). The trio opened from backstage with an a capella “Without You Without Them,” then exploded onstage with “$20.” Thus began an emotional and soaringly cathartic set.

boygenius have an extremely ardent fanbase, and they came in full force to Forest Hills. Nearly every song was met with a full chorus of fans singing along, and participation felt less like a flex of familiarity than a communal outpouring, sometimes even overtaking the trio’s voices. The set was neatly organized into three acts, plus an encore, and Lucy, Phoebe, and Julien scarcely talked between songs. Even so, they were some of the most present performers I’ve seen — their vocals stayed razor-sharp, and they genuinely seemed to take great pleasure in being onstage together. The middle of the set saw three pauses to call for medics and water, two of which were during Julien’s Little Oblivion solo track “Favor”–she called the song “cursed” upon the second stoppage. Phoebe’s own “Graceland Too” followed, with a violin solo and Julien on banjo. Another pair of fans on the floor needed help during the intro, unfortunately, but after they restarted the song, the concert carried on as normal (Lucy played her own “Please Stay” earlier, without issue). boygenius then debuted an unreleased track, an outtake from The Record sessions called “Boyfriend,” and Phoebe dedicated it to “all the boyfriends here.” From there, the final act of the set became an impressive display of heart-wrenching songwriting, all exploring what it means to be in love.

Speaking of which, during the Lucy-anchored ballad “We’re In Love,” fans waved their phone flashlights with paper cutouts in the shape of pink hearts held against them, passed around the upper bowl sometime before the song. “Letter To An Old Poet” had Lucy on piano and Phoebe kneeling on a box in front of the stage, connecting with the crowd as they collectively sang “I wanna be happy,” three songs after shouting “I wanna be emaciated” on “Me & My Dog.” They ended their main set with hit “Not Strong Enough,” rocking with the crowd and allowing cheers to ring out for a while before the encore.

boygenius ended the night with two enduring tracks from their 2018 self-titled EP. “Ketchum, ID” featured Phoebe on solo acoustic guitar, with Julien and Lucy sitting side by side on the same box where Phoebe had earlier knelt. The entire stadium harmonized, a powerfully intimate moment in the amphitheater. Julien, Lucy, and Phoebe stepped away from their mics for the final chorus, and thousands of fans finished the song without a note lost. “Salt In The Wound” came last, an energetic lift with a major outpouring of love for each other, the music, and the crowd. The song burned slow like a rock classic, closing with a guitar solo by Julien while Lucy and Phoebe collapsed in a pile of cuddles. Despite so many beautiful but devastating songs, boygenius left in triumph.

See photos from the day by Amanda Hatfield and Ellen Qbertplaya, all four bands’ setlists, and fan-shot video (including of “Boyfriend”) below.

Setlist: Bartees Strange at Forest Hills Stadium, 6/17/2023 (via)
Ghostly
Far
Mustang
Mulholland Dr.
Wretched
Flagey God
Cosigns
About Today (The National cover)
Heavy Heart
Boomer

Setlist: Dijon at Forest Hills Stadium, 6/17/2023 (via)
Big Mike’s
coogie
rock n roll
The Dress
Many Times
Did You See It? (Extended)
Talk Down
Rodeo Clown

Setlist: Clairo at Forest Hills Stadium, 6/17/2023 via)
Bambi
Zinnias
North
Alewife
Blouse
Softly
4EVER
Little Changes
Reaper
Harbor
Partridge
Joanie
Amoeba
Bags

Setlist: Boygenius at Forest Hills Stadium, 6/17/2023 via)
Act 1
Without You Without Them (from backstage)
$20
Satanist
Emily I’m Sorry
True Blue
Cool About It

Act 2
Souvenir
Bite the Hand
Revolution 0
Stay Down
Leonard Cohen
Please Stay (Lucy Dacus song)
Favor (Julien Baker song)
Graceland Too (Phoebe Bridgers song)

Act 3
Boyfriend (Live debut)
Me & My Dog
We’re in Love
Anti‐Curse
Letter to an Old Poet
Not Strong Enough

Encore:
Ketchum, ID
Salt in the Wound