REVIEW: Delaney Bailey Enchants Minneapolis with a Haunting, Tender Tour Opening Show
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY SHEVON GREENE ☆
Photos by Margi Mosbeck-Morrison
ICEHOUSE FELT MORE LIKE THE INSIDE OF SOMEONE’S DREAM—than a venue on Friday night. For the first stop of her Midwest headlining tour, Chicago songwriter Delaney Bailey brought a show that was like a diary being read aloud.
Opening support came from This House is Creaking, performing an acoustic set that truly brought that Midwestern flair to the stage. The group performed a handful of unreleased tracks (including one they jokingly dubbed “super new”) and had plenty of warm banter for the crowd. A standout moment for me came when they performed “Disco Elysium” before the end of their set.
When Delaney Bailey finally emerged, she slipped into the first notes with an effortless presence that kept the crowd’s attention. This was her first-ever Minneapolis show, and she seemed just as taken with the audience as they were with her. She opened with newer material before stirring into “Far Away,” one of her most recent singles that previews her upcoming sophomore record Concave, out January 21. There were airy guitar lines, grounding drums, and Bailey’s voice rang warmly through the venue.
The next stretch of the set pulled from her earlier work. Songs like “Forgetting Delaney” and “Finish Line” landed with renewed sharpness, the full band adding lift and color to songs once carried solely by her guitar. Bailey’s voice cut straight through the chatter of the standing room. Although her sound could be described as delicate, it’s still powerful and hard-hitting with her lyrics and instrumentals.
Introducing “Concave,” she told the crowd, “This one’s about loving getting to know yourself.” There were synthy undertones even as her guitar kept everything grounded, that duality defining much of the evening. Although Bailey’s recent and upcoming releases lean even further into electronic textures and atmospheric production, the Minneapolis show kept her core intact: organic, tactile, and intimate. The guitars remained and stayed an important asset of the night.
A few songs later, she introduced “Wake Up,” a soft-synth track about shaking yourself out of a rut. The set’s magic continued to deepen through its transitions. Bailey and her band moved between songs with instrumental interludes that felt like they came straight out of an 80s fantasy film with lush pads, shimmering guitar and sharp melodies. It felt theatrical without force and cinematic without overstating itself.
Midway through, Bailey slipped into an acoustic portion dedicated to her EP what we leave behind. She introduced it with “Bloomington,” a song about her college years and everything she left there. Her voice turned hollow and haunting, filling the room with beautiful melodies. “This next one’s really sad, I’m sorry…” she mentioned before beginning “song for my father.” The line “a child should never feel like a chore” hit especially hard and is one of my personal favorites from her repertoire.
She followed with “Wella,” written for her grandmother, which shined through with a soft ache. Later, she reached back to her 2022 record (i would’ve followed you) for “My Skin,” a song that peels back layer after layer of memory.
The night closed with what many had been waiting for, “j’s lullaby (darlin’ i’d wait for you)” performed alone—no band, no synths, just her voice floating over her fingerpicked guitar.
What made the evening remarkable wasn’t just the setlist or the fact that she debuted so much unreleased material; it was the way Bailey held her audience’s attention.
This show truly hinted at expansive sonic vistas, as Concave promises. Minneapolis was her first stop, but it felt like she was building a universe for her upcoming project. Judging by the faces leaving Icehouse, Minneapolis was more than ready to step into it with her.
