Concert review: Courtney Barnett w/ Truman Sinclair| 05.19.26, The Hawthorn (with photo gallery)

Photo of Courtney Barnett live at the Hawthorn by Laura Jerele

What can you say about Courtney Barnett? All you need to know about Courtney Barnett—she’s cool as hell!

The Hawthorn was damn near sold out for Barnett’s stop on the Creature of Habit tour, and every single person in that room got one helluva show. Courtney performs as a trio with bassist Bones Sloane and drummer Stella Mozgawa, and making a massive sound for just the three of them. And she seems to make it all look embarrassingly easy. No pageantry. No massive production. Just a trio locked in so tight and letting go. 

She kicked things off with “Stay in Your Lane” and I feel like the crowd really loved that to start, it hits super punchy live. She is a force, that’s for sure, her songs seem both coiled and directly in your face all at the same time, which set the tone for everything that followed. From there the set just kept rockin’ version of storytelling, she played through “Site Unseen,” “Depreston,” and “Sugar Plum.” 

Here’s the thing about Courtney Barnett live: I thought she was so casually, effortlessly cool that you almost miss the fact that she is absolutely shredding right in front of you. Almost. Because then she’d just haul that guitar up and wail away like a full-on guitar god, hair everywhere, completely in it, and the crowd would collectively lose its mind a little with having her shred in your face! Quite unexpected. And then in contrast she’s also got the chill, the casual, the laid-back vibe and then BAM, she just goes for it full throttle again. TOTAL guitar god shit! I enjoyed watching her perform a ton! Even when she was just standing there looking like she wasn’t even working, tuning her guitar and kicking her hair casually out of her eyes—rock star. If you were there, you know. And if you weren’t… well, that’s on you!

Opening up for Courtney Barnett is no small task, but Truman Sinclair seemed absolutely up for it. The L.A.-based singer-songwriter rolled in with his band, gave us some catchy songs with really high energy from the start, and even joked that they recently purchased fireworks and wanted a hookup on a place to blast them off. Welcome to the Midwest, eh? Riffy songs, cool and self-assured youth without being cocky about it, and a presence that felt genuine means we’ll all be keeping an eye on this one. | Laura Jerele