Singer song-writer Sharon Van Etten has been active in the music scene since 2009, but for her seventh album, she decided to embark on a new conquest: creating a band. After jamming with fellow musicians, Van Etten formed a band called Van Etten and The Attachment Theory. The new band released their self-titled album in February of 2025 and began touring the September of this year.
Their Columbus performance was hosted at Newport Music Hall on their second night of tour. Going into the performance, I had high expectations for the individual musical elements; but, because this was only their second performance I worried about issues with cohesion. At doors, the energy was low, with few people lining up and very little chatter. Upon entering the venue, I was shocked to see the barricade vacant. Although I arrived an hour before the opener, I did not expect to be front and center.
The opener, Torres, went on at 8:00 p.m. and played eight of her songs, including “No Desert Flower”, a collaboration of hers with Julien Baker. Torres was on the stage with no band, only herself and her electric guitar. Seeing as her songs were mainly a-melodic, her ability to stay on key was impressive without the safety net of a tune to fall back on. Before her sixth song, “Helen’s in the Woods”, she explained the song’s backstory: her best-friend in high school had a girlfriend that stalked him, so she based this song off of that experience. While performing the song the anguish Torres felt towards the stalker, Helen, was palpable as she was swinging her hair and guitar erratically to the beat. With the energy now set high, it was time for Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory to take the stage.
Smoke and instrumentals swelled as the band entered the stage, followed by Sharon herself. The opening song, “Live Forever”, set a moody tone with its heavy electronic aspects. Sharon seemed to be conducting the band as she sang, emphasizing every down beat. Her attire immediately reminded me of an outfit from Lorde’s Melodrama tour, with boots, a black leather skirt, and a fishnet top over a bralette. Van Etten stood out with her long black hair against the rest of her band, who all had dyed red hair. It was striking to me how freely she moved about the stage, practically tangling herself in the wired mic. Her following songs, “Afterlife” and “Idiot Box”, generated head banging throughout the audience so contagiously that I could not even keep myself from pounding my head to the bass. She began interacting with the crowd soon after, introducing the Attachment Theory and thanking everyone in the audience for the support of her project with this band. Throughout the rest of her performance, she was deliberate in making eye-contact, pointing, and singing to members of the audience to an extent I seldom see out of a performer. I was captivated throughout her set by the energy Van Etten maintained while reaching notes at the top of her register.
As the set came to an end, Van Etten announced that she received a direct message on Instagram of a song request for today’s show, so she and the band practiced the song to perform it for the fans. They asked the fan to illuminate her face so that they could thank her for her request, and she was starstruck. The woman next to me on the barricade immediately began sobbing at the first chord, for it was her favorite as well. At the very end of the encore, Van Etten once again introduced every band member, but also thanked every single person on her tour team by name, including the bus driver. In a world where everything feels so divided, Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory were a beacon of humanity and connection on High Street that night.
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