PHOTOS: Bishop Briggs a ‘champion’ at the Warfield
SAN FRANCISCO — Bishop Briggs let it be known that she was a champion on Saturday as she brought her infectious energy to the Warfield.
Opening with “Champion” a new track from her forthcoming album of the same name, Briggs could hardly contain a huge grin as she hopped around the stage and pumped her fists in the air.
“I had not been expecting that response,” she said following a rapturous roar.
During fan favorite “Wild Horses” she ran around in circles and shouted a good portion of the lyrics rather than singing them. A backing band sat perched above the stage, leaving most of the floor open for Bishop Briggs to dance and hop around to her heart’s content.
She mentioned several times throughout the show that she couldn’t believe so many people would come out to the show or knew the songs that had only just been released. That included “Jekyll and Hide,” which fans treated as though it were one of her first singles. The energy didn’t’ lag on “White Flag,” off 2018 debut album Church of Scars.
In the middle of her performance, Bishop Briggs pulled off a three-song covers medley of what she called “an emo dream of mine:” Twenty One Pilots’ “Stressed Out,” Panic at the Disco’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” and My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade,” accompanied by visuals from each song’s video.
She rounded out her set with a stripped-down version of “Dream,” new songs “Tattooed On My Heart” and “Someone Else,” and radio hit “River.”
Miya Folick preceded the headliner, taking the stage as the lights were still dimming. While Folick began with the slower grunge-tinged “Deadbody,” she proved to be anything but mellow. By the time she got to an unreleased song called “Break My Heart,” Folick was dancing around the stage and jamming on guitar. She concluded with personal ballad “Thingamajig.” By this time sweat was dripping down her face and it looked as if she was crying, which fit the mood of the tearjerker perfectly.
Jax Anderson, formerly known as Flint Eastwood, started the night off with an uptempo six-song set. Anderson couldn’t stand still, dancing around and sticking her tongue out like it was it’s own dance move on songs like “Chapter 4 Sober.”
Anderson hardly needed a microphone as she yelled with such volume that her words came through loud and clear. Before her final song, Anderson announced to women—and later men—in the crowd: “You’re everything they tell you you’re not. … You’re as good as your heroes, you just gotta put in the work.”
— Piper Westrom