At their sold-out show at Portland’s State Theatre on Oct. 20, Big Thief, a Brooklyn-based indie-folk band, had a message for Bates: “Thanks for all the love,” said Buck Meek, guitarist and vocalist. “Sorry we couldn’t make it yesterday.”

This shout-out was followed by an explosive cheer from the audience, which included a lot of Bates students. Then lead vocalist Adrianne Lenker chimed in. “It’s been amazing to watch what you’ve been doing,” she said. “Thanks for playing our songs.”

What led up to this moment? It was the result of more than a year of student creativity, community, and persistence that began as a simple solution to a problem in Bates’ music scene. 

During the fall of 2024, Audrey Cole ’26, of Minneapolis, Minn., Jonah Yaffe ’26, of Dallas, Texas, and Stella Gould ’25, were looking for a way to showcase musicians on campus who weren’t part of existing bands. Cole and Yaffe are the co-presidents (or “emperors,” as they call themselves) of the Bates Musicians’ Union this year. BMU is an active and large organization; they regularly put on concerts, connect musicians, and collaborate with the student-run radio station and literary magazine, snaggletooth. If you ask most Bates students, they can likely rattle off a list of BMU founded bands. Blue Razz Sassafras, Don’t Teller, Cole and Yaffe’s own band, The Lot Lizards, often perform in house basements, in local bars, and even at school-run events, like last year’s Gala. These bands are the club’s bread and butter, but Cole knew there were more musicians at Bates, with a lot to offer, but no regular band to play with. She’s met some at BMU general meetings and encountered others socially.

“There are so many people I talk to who don’t even go to the meetings but who want to perform and play with a band and just don’t have the capacity,” says Cole.

Here was the solution: a one-night-only collaborative concert, where anyone could sign up to join a band for a day and take part in an all-day outdoor show. There had been single bands playing on Mount David before, but this time they were looking for it to expand to a collective concert They needed something to capture the essence of Bates and get people excited. 

Enter Big Thief, a Brooklyn-based indie-folk band, fronted by hyper-specific and poetic lyricist Adrianne Lenker, with an extensive acoustic and electric catalog. The band had played Portland’s State Theatre in Feb. 2023, drawing a packed crowd that included Bates students and alumni. “Bates has a big crunch element,” Cole says, referring to the large sector of the campus population who can be seen on any given day wearing Blundstones as they carry their cross-country ski bags to their environmental justice class. “So people are definitely listening to Big Thief. I went to see them freshman year, and a million Bates kids and Bates grads living in Portland were at that concert. So it was evident they were big here.” 

The first Big Thief tribute concert at Bates took place in October 2024 on Mount David. It was a cold October afternoon, but dozens of students showed up in puffer coats and beanies, staying past sunset to sing along to the songs they knew so well, their phone flashlights waving in their hands. “It was so special,” Yaffe says, “People still tell me it was their favorite night of the year. And then this summer I was looking back on photos and really wanted to commemorate it somehow. It just felt like something that should keep happening.”

When planning this year’s show, they considered other groups, like maybe a Beatles or Wilco night, but nothing seemed like it could quite capture the same energy. So Yaffe decided to take things a step further. He created an Instagram account (@bates_plays_big_thief) dedicated to the project, posting photos and video of last year’s performance every day, along with hoping to catch the band’s attention, and maybe get them to show up to campus. They even offered some food recommendations from Commons, glimpses of a logo for the event, and a video from Mount Katahdin.

“Buck Meek ended up following me, and I actually got in contact with their team,” Yaffe says. “They gave us special permission to listen to their new album early, sent us signed vinyl and posters, and I was emailing with their manager for a while.”

This year’s Big Thief tribute concert  was scheduled for October 19, the day before the band’s tour date in Portland, and it was even bigger than last year’s. “People we had never met before showed up,” Cole said, “Like so many people.”

People showed up to Big Thief’s show the next day, too. About 2,000 of them. So it was very rewarding to hear Meek shout out Bates live on stage, but Yaffe says that the Instagram account means a lot more to him than a connection to the band. “I like that I can scroll back on it and see all these absolutely amazing memories from this amazing night,” he says, “It’s like a public scrapbook. It’s great.” 

Like @bates_plays_big_thief, the new tradition of Big Thief night has gone beyond just a love for the band. It’s a chance to come together, meeting with friends and strangers on Mount David to create something. It is a marker of community, and a reminder that even during midterms, and the time when days get shorter, there is still space for spontaneity and joy in the outdoors. It’s about the feeling of being in a crowd where everyone is singing the same words. It’s the type of evening that makes Bates feel small in the best way.