Father John Misty brought his Mahashmashana Tour to Liverpool, on 27th June 2025, for what proved to be one of the finest shows the cult crooner has played locally. SFN‘s Cerys Marlowe reports.
Josh Tillman has been here before, of course. Liverpool and Father John Misty have a warm, long-standing history together, from the early days at Mountford Hall to more recent visits to this very Olympia, and on each occasion the city has responded with the kind of love that you suspect means something to him. Friday night felt like the most vivid chapter yet, a show that confirmed, if it still needed confirming, that he is simply operating on a different plane to most people making music right now.
He took to the stage at just gone nine, all easy confidence and barely concealed wit, and opened with “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All”, the title track from Mahashmashana, its orchestral grandeur filling the Olympia‘s beautiful old room in a way that made you realise, almost immediately, that the band sounded absolutely magnificent. There are nights when everything just locks in, and this was one of them, the strings and keys sitting perfectly against each other, Tillman‘s voice as rich and expressive as it has ever been.
“Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose” followed, then “The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apt.”, a song that still feels like one of the great pieces of character writing in modern songwriting, funny and unsettling and somehow deeply kind all at once. The crowd was rapt from the very first verse. “Being You” gave the set an early emotional peak, its searching quality sitting beautifully in the room, before “Mr. Tillman” brought out the first proper singalong of the night, the Liverpool crowd delivering every word back with the kind of warmth that makes you feel glad to be in the same room as a bunch of strangers.
What makes a Father John Misty show different from almost anything else you might see is the quality of the between-song moments, the asides, the observations, the way Tillman seems to regard the whole enterprise with a kind of fond bewilderment. He was in particularly fine form on Friday, digressive and sharp and occasionally very funny, and the crowd loved every second of it. It’s part of the ritual now, as expected and as welcome as the songs themselves.
“Nancy From Now On” arrived to great affection, its rollicking energy a reminder of just how deep and varied this catalogue is, before the gorgeous, melancholy balladry of “Goodbye Mr. Blue” brought a hush over the room. “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)” was as joyful and ridiculous and genuinely lovely as it always is, the moment in the set where the last of any remaining distance between artist and audience simply dissolves entirely.
The middle of the set was where the evening really found its emotional centre. “Mental Health”, one of the standout moments on Mahashmashana, translated beautifully to the live setting, its layers of sound building into something genuinely overwhelming. “God’s Favorite Customer” and “Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow” were both given generous, luxuriant readings, and the band, who had been superb throughout, really shone in those longer, more expansive arrangements.
“She Cleans Up” was tender and a little heartbreaking, and led into “Screamland”, one of the more unsettling corners of the new album, all swirling unease and theatrical grandeur, Tillman throwing himself into it completely. The set closed with the vast, slow-burning title track, “Mahashmashana”, nearly ten minutes of shimmering, building intensity that left the room in something approaching a daze.
The encore was generous and warm, “Holy Shit” giving way to a swooning, full-voice rendition of “I Love You, Honeybear”, a song that will never not be a genuinely moving experience in a room full of people who mean every word, before the evening wound down softly and sweetly with “Real Love Baby”, one last moment of uncomplicated pleasure to send everyone out into the night.
Father John Misty at his best is a rare thing, the sense of a performer who cares deeply about every aspect of what he does, who treats his audience as intelligent, feeling people, and who has the songs and the voice and the band to back all of it up completely. Friday night at the Olympia was him at his very best, and Liverpool, once again, gave him exactly what he deserved in return.
Words by Cerys Marlowe.
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