Boygenius Reunites On Camera for Phoebe Bridgers' Three-Song Studio Film

By Elena Vasquez

Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus performed together on camera for the first time in nearly three years. The reunion came in a three-song in-studio video directed by Lance Oppenheim, part of the "Sound Check at Cherry Lane Theatre" series now streaming on A24's YouTube channel.

The session marked the first on-screen appearance of the Boygenius trio since their "Saturday Night Live" performance as a group in November 2023.

Bridgers and company shot the footage with Oppenheim directly after her three sold-out nights at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Fans on her current arena tour cannot film the shows; phones and cameras are prohibited. The studio video offers performance footage in their place.

What does the video contain?

The performance runs three songs:

• "On Video," the closing theme Bridgers wrote for the film "Primetime"
• "Haunted," from the album "Lost Weekend"
• "Lost Boys," the "Lost Weekend" lead single

Baker and Dacus join for the final two numbers. Both sang harmonies on those album tracks, but the acoustic arrangement delivers a more intimate listen to their vocal interplay.

"On Video" opens the set. Bridgers performs in dim lighting before a bank of televisions, accompanied only by Jay Gruska on keyboards. Gruska co-produced the latest album. "Haunted" carries a pronounced country flavor, with Dacus wielding a video camera of her own and four acoustic musicians joining. The finale strips the lineup down to the Boygenius trio alone, with a softer arrangement of "Lost Boys" that emphasizes group harmonies.

Why Cherry Lane Theatre?

The venue matters to the story. Cherry Lane Theatre, a venerable off-Broadway house said to be New York's oldest, is now owned and operated by A24. The studio released "Primetime," in which Bridgers holds a supporting role as a "decoy" attracting potential sexual predators, and also issued her theme for the film. The film dramatizes a story about TV personality Chris Hansen.

Past "Sound Check at Cherry Lane" installments featured Tame Impala and Blood Orange.

Who is Lance Oppenheim?

This is Oppenheim's second time filming a version of "Lost Boys." He also directed the official music video for the "Lost Weekend" lead single, with visual and thematic callbacks to his three-part 2024 HBO documentary, "Ren Faire."

"Primetime" marks Oppenheim's debut directing a dramatic feature. He is also co-director, with Nathan Fielder, of the upcoming Elizabeth Holmes documentary "You Can See Everything."

The takeaway: the video gives Boygenius followers their first filmed performance in almost three years, and it positions Bridgers' film work with A24 and Oppenheim at the center of her current release cycle.