The Observatory, known for its eccentric lineups, became the backdrop for a night that was anything but ordinary. The venue was smaller than expected, though it didn’t seem to deter fans by any means. I’ll be honest I walked into the venue not sure what to expect. I’d done an album review of Hemlocke Springs just a few days before, so I knew the music was good, but I’d never seen her live, so I was a bit nervous. My boyfriend, who’d only heard that song because of how much I’d play it, was even more uncertain and skeptical than I was. By the end of the night, though, he was a full blown fan.
When the scheduled opener Girlfriend didn’t show up, we braced ourselves for boredom and awkward silence. Instead Springs emerged early, clocked in black, holding a storybook, popsicle-stick characters, and a shiny red apple. She calmly explained the situation and then followed it with a long, winding, and intentionally confusing parody of Snow White that was delivered with the theatrical confidence that her fans will happily follow her down any rabbit hole. She narrated, acted, improvised and cackled her way through the tale like a chaotic fairy godmother. The crowd, just as energetic and silly as Springs, ate it up. They weren’t just watching, they were happily participating in the absurdity until Springs finished her tale and vanished backstage.
Moments later, Springs reappeared this time in a massive metallic pink ballgown and what looked like a pink double hennin. Basically a medieval princess hat reimagined through a hyperpop lens. The room erupted and it was clear that this wasn’t going to be a normal concert. Once the music began, Springs was unstoppable. She darted across stage spinning, kicking, laughing, and belting each lyric with full bodied commitment. Her stage presence was magical and I loved every second of it. Between songs, a fairytale-style narration of her own voice pitched and stylized played over the speakers guiding the audience through the “chapters” of the night. It gave the show a whimsical structure, like we were all characters in her story.
But halfway through the show, she shifted gears. She sat down on the edge of the stage with one of her instrumentalists, legs dangling, and stated she needed a breather. She offered the crowd an acoustic rendition of “Going…Going…Gone!”, featuring a tiny and earnest kazoo solo that sent the crowd into delighted chaos. It was a moment of softness in a night that was otherwise bursting with color and motion.
My favorite part of the show occurred when “Sever the Blight” came on. Springs and her two instrumentalists, a drummer and a keyboard player, dashed offstage for a rapid fire costume change. The instrumentalists shed their pink bob wigs while Springs appeared with a pale blue sequined pirate captain’s hat, a matching sequined sword, and pink fuzzy sunglasses. The crowd shouted with joy and I couldn’t help but think about how the costume change was perfect for this song.
Outside afterwards, a few fans lingered in glittery clusters, many dressed in theme. There were cloaks, crowns, pirate hats, pink wigs, and fairytale punk outfits. They weren’t just attending a concert, they were participating in a whimsical world. When I interviewed them, their answers painted a community as expressive and imaginative as the artist they came to see. Jo, 22, wearing a gorgeous purple dress and matching headband, described alternative as “the intersectionality between identity and fashion. There’s a lot of culture.” Their favorite song of the night was, “head, shoulders, knees, and ankles,” and that they discovered Springs back on TikTok when she only had around a thousand followers. “I just really liked the style of music and kept coming to shows.”
Austin, 27, dressed head‑to‑toe in white, summed up his alt identity bluntly: “Fuck the system.” He first heard Hemlocke Springs when a friend played her in the car, “girlfriend” hooked him instantly, and he called “Heavun” his all time favorite song. I also spoke with Danie and Charlotte, both 24, sporting moody layers with a frohawk and a red dress and tiny wings respectively. To them, being alternative meant “not letting yourself stay in a box” and “going against the status quo, in fashion and politically.” They both discovered Springs in 2021 while scrolling TikTok. Charlotte then dove deeper after Chappell Roan shouted her out. Their favorite songs were “Heads Shoulders Knees and Ankles” and “Moses,” though Charlotte admitted it changes depending on her mood.
All in all, talking to them made one thing clear. Hemlocke Springs didn’t just perform. She created a safe space where people felt free to be loud, expressive, and entirely themselves. And everyone there, including myself, walked out feeling like we’d become part of something wonderfully strange and deeply joyful.