REVIEW: Grace Enger at The Foundry

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PHOTOS AND REVIEW BY: Dylan Steinberg

New Jersey native Grace Enger graced the stage of The Foundry with an emotionally charged and vocally compelling performance on March 6th. Her first headlining tour, the It’s So Fun Tour, was a true testament to Enger’s artistry and talent from when she strummed her opening chords.

An independent singer-songwriter, Grace Enger began her musical career with a bang. Her first song to be released on streaming services, “The Neighborhood,” in 2022 captured the attention of listeners like myself and the music video network Vevo, earning her over 4 million streams. Following “The Neighborhood,” Enger released various singles before her first album in 2023. Most recently, she released her second album, “The Alchemist,” featuring the tour’s name inspiration, the track “It’s No Fun.”

Despite the popularity of Enger’s first song, she has since remained a relatively small artist, with under 200,000 monthly streams on Spotify. Her performance at The Foundry, though, showed the true star potential of Grace Enger.

Enger and her two-member band emerged on the stage to a sold-out room’s applause, many young listeners jumping up and down excitedly as her drummer began the steady kick of her single “Think I Wanna See You Again.” The room’s energy steadily grew as her bright and bouncy guitar entered the song. Enger’s voice, incredibly clear and powerful, bounced off the walls of the standing-room-only venue, the purpose beneath it building as she neared the second chorus. Bouncing around the stage, engaging with her fellow band members, you could not help but dance along, her spirit captivating and oh-so-familiar.

What was so instantly special about Grace Enger was her connection to the audience. It is a rare experience to witness an artist play their first national tour and watch as they perform their discographies for their fans in new cities. She was so humble, so down to earth, expressing her gratitude to the crowd the entire night. Not only this, but she engaged with the audience as if they were friends. While performing her song “Habits Die Hard,” a fan held up their phone with the words “F*ck Connor,” which Enger included in the performance.

She then gave this fan the microphone, where they told the story of how Connor, their talking stage, ghosted them, only to find out Connor had a girlfriend. Enger made The Foundry a space for openness and vulnerability, which is such comfort that it is so distinct for a significant Philadelphia venue. 

As she neared the midway point of the concert, Grace Enger allowed the audience to choose a song for her to play, further immersing the audience in her performance. By almost unanimous decision, the audience chose her song “Girls Like Boys,” a single from her most recent album.

Moving from her guitar to her piano, similar to Taylor Swift’s acoustic section during the Eras Tour, Enger showed the extent of her skillfulness. Not only this, but she exhibited her commitment to her fanbase, choosing to change the lyrics to one of the song’s choruses from “girls like boys” and “boys like girls” to “girls like girls” and “boys like boys.” Though subtle changes in a world filled with such divisiveness and tension, Enger’s intentional representation of LGBTQ+ identities was influential. 

The final three songs of Enger’s set were the show’s true showstoppers and where Enger and her band truly shined. The jazzy and warm “Love Will Find Me” acted as a bridge between her slower piano and acoustic portion of her concert and her hit songs. “The Neighborhood” and “It’s No Fun”, two anthemic ballads, had the room screaming along to their lyrics, bringing everyone together in a state of catharsis.

The driving chords played by Enger’s guitarist, a Central Bucks native, and the stirring beat played by her drummer, coupled with Enger’s dynamic and emotionally charged vocals, made for an invigorating finale to a transformative night of music.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Enger’s surprise encore performance. The recent cities of the Its So Fun Tour had not seen or disclosed the presence of an encore song. However, as the audience chanted “encore,” as many concert audiences will, Grace Enger suddenly emerged back on stage, explaining that she only performs encore performances for cities she truly connects with.

Philly was graced with the performance of an unreleased song, tentatively titled “Think Twice”, a special and unexpected treat. Though no one in the audience had heard this piece, the repeated lines “you don’t, you don’t, you don’t think twice at all” could be heard being whispered across the crowd. Her performance utterly hypnotized me; her voice and simple piano almost brought me to tears. 

Though I would love to gatekeep Grace Enger’s music and talent forever, she is an artist comparable to the likings of Lizzy McAlpine and Gracie Abrahms and deserves similar reach and attention. If you have not heard of her, listen to “The Neighborhood”; someday, she will be huge.