Photos by Kili Goodrich
At The Wiltern, a cozy yet grand and gilded Art Deco venue in Koreatown, the standing crowd thrummed with anticipation as the stage filled with dreamy, undulating light. Julia Jacklin’s stage set was quite bare, save for a large blue gem cutout on the back wall which framed the artist. “Why is there a giant takeout box behind her?” A nearby concertgoer muttered when the house lights dimmed.
After spending a year and a half attending artist residencies and making music at home in Melbourne, Jacklin has found her way back to the stage and is doing things differently. In Jacklin’s fourth studio album, The Gem, she takes the helm of her life by laying waste and starting over, her lyrics sprinkled with classic imagery of regeneration: dying flowers, house fires, and baby birds.
Jacklin opened with an intimate rendition of “I Wish” alongside two of her band members, Mimi Gilbert and Jacob Diamond. Jacklin’s subdued, ethereal voice, along with the accompanying harmonies, lulled the audience into a trance. This, paired with her understated backdrop, set the tone for a raw and stripped-back set.
The energy only built from there. As she transitioned into “Brand New,” Jacklin grabbed a tambourine from the mic stand, which she passed around to her band for the rest of the evening.
Next was “God Sometimes,” in which Jacklin sings about becoming an all-powerful being in order to change her circumstances. “Oh, you have to be a god sometimes / Force the moment to change / Flip the table, then rearrange.” The song encapsulates the metamorphic feel of her new record, which is full of contemplative reveries, imploring mantras, and religious imagery.
Mantras and metamorphosis are present in her older tracks, too. Her next gift to the audience was a gut-wrenching rendition of “to Perth, before the border closes.” In this signature song, Jacklin repeats,“Don’t you know that / Everything changes / Everything changes.”
Jacklin delighted the audience with more of her older discography, continuing with “Pool Party,” “Shivers,” and “Lydia Wears A Cross.” The stage became awash in blue light as Jacklin sat down and bore her heart to us for “Good Guy.” Next was “Angel Vision,” another track where Jacklin explores holy motifs, regeneration, and taking control.
Despite the heavy themes explored in these songs and the tender way in which she delivered them, Jacklin managed to balance out the mood and kept the energy lively through lighthearted banter with the buzzing crowd. She was also charmingly honest, and admitted that she’s still “figuring out [her] vibe” on stage as she returns to touring. She made the audience feel like we were a part of something, creating and experiencing her art alongside her.
My personal highlight of her set was “Body.” From her 2019 album Crushing, this delicately heartbreaking song ends with a cuttingly sarcastic refrain, repeated five times, about feeling powerless: “I guess it’s just my life / And it’s just my body.”
Seen from the vantage point of The Gem, the vulnerable song felt like an homage to Jacklin’s past self and a sense of helplessness that she has since overcome. This song was where my love for her originated. Once again, Jacklin was gifting the audience with old favorites. She followed with “Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You.”
The conclusion of Jacklin’s set highlighted her impressive emotional range. It was peppered with emphatic electric guitar solos by her band members, the audience jumping up and down to “I Was Neon” and “Pressure To Party.” The mood felt hopeful.
Rapturous applause greeted Jacklin’s return to the stage for her encore, a gentle but fervent performance of “Hay Plain” from her earliest album, Don’t Let The Kids Win. Jacklin’s display of loyalty to her early days of songwriting, paired with a matured sound, was the perfect way to wrap up her set.
After witnessing Jacklin’s display of pure sincerity on stage at The Wiltern on Thursday night, I stepped out into the LA autumn breeze feeling like I’d made a new friend.
Listen to The Gem below!
