Gracie Abrams & Aaron Dessner Perform at Hollywood Forever: Photos From the Concert

“We called this the Good Riddance Acoustic Shows, but we’re doing things from previous times … and future times,” teased singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams. Talking to the packed yet intimate room at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever in Los Angeles (which has a capacity of around 150) on Sept. 14, Abrams was joined onstage by her close friend and collaborator Aaron Dessner.

The pair crafted Abram’s stellar debut, Good Riddance, together at Dessner’s Long Pond studio, and as a delayed celebration of sorts recently embarked on a three-date trek of shows in New York, Nashville and L.A. Abrams said she grew up seeing shows at the Lodge, commenting on the beauty of the small room.

“The last show we played in L.A. was at SoFi [Stadium],” she later said with a smirk, nodding to her opening slot on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, while the passionate crowd erupted into cheers and applause. “It’s just like this, a tiny little hole in the wall,” she joked.

Throughout the 90-minute set, Abrams and Dessner coated the room in comfortability both with her introspective songs and their friendly banter. They played a new song called “Sad About It” (Abrams kept her phone in hand “in case of emergencies” since the lyrics are so fresh), and even tossed in a gorgeous cover of Swift’s “Invisible String.”

Before the night ended, Abrams closed with some especially kind words in appreciation of Dessner, saying, “For me to know you in this way has changed my life … I don’t know where the industry would be without [you].”