Big Thief open a free live archive with ten full concerts, and a Dublin "Incomprehensible" to go with it

Big Thief, the Brooklyn-formed indie band fronted by Adrianne Lenker, have opened a Live Archive: a free site built around ten complete concerts, with more to come. It went live on 14 October 2026 at archive.bigthief.net.

What is in it

The ten shows span nearly seven years. The oldest is from 11 November 2019 at The Athenaeum in Columbus, Ohio. Then comes 12 April 2023 at Hammersmith Apollo in London, followed by a run of 2025 and 2026 nights:

• 27 September 2025, Los Angeles
• 25 October 2025, Queens, New York
• 3 November 2025, Cain's Ballroom, Tulsa
• 6 November 2025, 7A Ranch Opera House, Wimberley, Texas
• 13 April 2026, Columbiahalle, Berlin
• 23, 24 and 25 April 2026, the three Brixton Academy nights in London

The site lists shows by city, venue and date, with filters by year and a timeline view. You can also build playlists of your favourite versions of songs across different nights, which is the real point of an archive like this: Big Thief rework their songs from show to show, and here you can hear the same track change over time.

The Grateful Dead idea

The launch details credit drummer James Krivchenia with the idea, inspired by the Grateful Dead's long tradition of circulating live recordings. The band has recorded its concerts since around 2019. The new batch was captured by the touring crew and mixed by the in-house engineer at their label, 4AD.

The launch material also points to a new show being added each month, on the second Tuesday. We have not seen that schedule stated on the site itself, so treat it as the plan rather than a promise.

A live single too

Alongside the archive, the band released a live version of "Incomprehensible," recorded at 3Arena in Dublin on 29 April 2026, as a single on streaming services. It is a fair taster for what the archive offers: a song that exists on record, played by a band that treats the record as a starting point.

If you only have time for one night, start with the Brixton Academy run, three consecutive shows in the same room, which makes it the easiest place to hear how a setlist shifts from one evening to the next.