Ethel Cain Commands The Crowd at Her Largest NYC Headline Show Yet
Written and photo by Gianna Cicchetti
Graphic by Rebekah Witt
Every time I go to a show at Central Park’s SummerStage, it always ends up being one of the most ridiculously hot and humid New York days of the season. On June 27, it was worthwhile braving the heat and taking to the park as Ethel Cain performed one of two headline shows in the U.S. this year as part of her “Childish Behaviour” tour. These shows—which instantaneously sold out in both New York City and Los Angeles at the Greek Theatre— marked a transitional moment in the ethereal songwriter’s career, starting to lay to rest the narrative of Ethel Cain that she established on 2022’s Preacher’s Daughter and also introducing her next project to continue the Cain family lineage.
A fan since just around the release of her acclaimed debut, I’ve seen Hayden Anhedönia and her band take four different stages over the past couple of years, from a rainy 1 PM slot at Pitchfork Festival in Chicago to an intimate, no-barricade show at Music Hall of Williamsburg and a momentous opening performance at Radio City Music Hall supporting Caroline Polachek. Each time, this past show being no exception, Anhedönia makes the stage her own every time, creating intimate experiences for individual fans AND the crowd at large in even the widest of spaces. Her mostly foreboding catalog translates even stronger than you’d think in an outdoor environment, especially as Anhedönia’s otherworldly vocal presence guides the show and gets better every time.
Starting off the evening was Texas-based band Teethe, who makes the most beautiful kind of slowcore with a bit of breezy, folky instrumentation. It’s easy to get lost in the haziness of Teethe’s music, and having the sun set right next to the band as they began the show made my second experience of seeing them even better.
The aesthetics and inspiration the project of Ethel Cain takes from Southern gothic styles, religious imagery, and Americana add another dimension to the live experience as Anhedönia dives into the cinematic narratives across her music featuring characters based in the Bible Belt. Her set began by greeting the crowd of camo-printed apparel, flowy white skirts, and those wearing her new merch adorned with the word “PERVERTS” with an eerie introduction of “Nearer My God to Thee” as the band of Ethel Cain took the stage. Throughout the show, there were stunning visuals behind the band created with Anhedönia’s frequent artistic collaborator Silken Weinberg, which fit right at home with the dark, nature-filled visuals of the American South that seem to inspire her most.
As expected, things started with an immediate gut punch, as the set opened with “Dust Bowl,” an unreleased song that’s become a fan favorite after being shared on Anhedönia’s SoundCloud years ago. Starting off soft, the nearly seven-minute performance really washed over the crowd once the full band kicked in and created a ring of sound around her, pairing their heavier instrumentation with a song deeper in Anhedönia’s range.
Once the setlist moved through the songs on Preacher’s Daughter, the vast majority of the crowd was singing back to Anhedönia with as much emotion as she was letting out while performing these songs informed by trauma and unfortunate endings. Hearing the crowd’s excitement to sing along to a song like “A House In Nebraska” truly drives home that what makes the album still so compelling two years later is the raw, haunting lyricism at its forefront, with emotions and relatability transcending the fictitious narrative Anhedönia has crafted them around.
One of the hallmarks of an Ethel Cain show is her interaction with the listeners—allowing fans to sing along to those most hard-hitting lines on their own, crouching down to hold hands and faces, singing right into your eyes when you least expect it. Even on her biggest headlining stage yet, with a barricade and photo pit in between, Anhedönia fed right off of the crowd’s energy, always going back and forth in the crowd and getting down on her knees right in front of fans for unparalleled moments of catharsis. Seriously, it’s been two years now, and I think about her performing “Gibson Girl” right in my face from the second row almost every day.
Equally as impactful as the more well-known cuts on the setlist were the unreleased songs premiered on this tour, “Amber Waves” and “Punish,” which left the crowd completely silent as they took them in for the very first time. Even after being paused multiple times for unfortunate fainters, the crowd was hypnotized by the ambient-leaning former track during which Anhedönia invited the crowd to close their eyes to fully take in its serenity and let it “crash over them like a wave.” This subtle song really allowed the softer elements of her voice to shine; meanwhile, “Punish” was more sonically intense as it built up to some of the heaviest-sounding slowcore guitars in her discography. Both tracks highlighted the duality of the Ethel Cain project’s sound and have only made it harder to be patient for her next body of work to be unveiled.
Even with a discography made up of pretty insular songs mostly running over the five-minute mark, her vocals carried the show to translate them perfectly to the stage. Just as “Thoroughfare,” for example, runs for over nine minutes, Anhedönia’s lovely vocal runs and ad-libs in its last several minutes transfixed the crowd into actually putting down their phones to clap along as she danced through it with her tambourine. Another standout moment of her shows is always “Sun Bleached Flies,” as the entire choir of fans sings ‘God loves you but not enough to save you’ when Anhedönia lifts her hands and ends with a hopeful refrain that left me swaying and holding my best friend in tears.
After ending the main set with a song reflecting on the character of Ethel’s life once she is beyond the grave, the crowd was promised “No more sad songs!” as we were treated to a cover of the 80’s hit “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes. A song unbeknownst to me until it emerged on her recent setlists, it became a perfect way to kick off the encore with dancy energy. Anhedönia’s voice suits the poppy anthem so well, a sound rarely explored in her discography besides the eternal song of the summer “American Teenager,” which she transitioned right into to leave the crowd jumping up and down with euphoria.
The typical feeling I get after an Ethel Cain show is a two-sided coin: being both emotionally destroyed over her lyrical matter and also on a high of gratitude for the power of Anhedönia’s performances. I guess you could say an Ethel Cain show is just like church.