What's it like to hear an unreleased album in a planetarium?

Phoebe Bridgers performs on stage holding a black guitar. She is a young woman with short, grey-coloured hair. She is wearing a black dress with a white colour and a decorated ribcage on the front of it.

What do a County Armagh city and a Grammy Award-winning artist have in common?

Probably not an awful lot, but this week, the Armagh Planetarium and songwriter Phoebe Bridgers joined forces to give a handful of fans an "immersive" audio-visual experience.

The Lost Weekend Planetarium show, named after the 31-year-old's new album which is due to be released on Friday, combines curated, nocturnal scenes by National Geographic night-sky photographer Babak Tafreshi with the 16-track record.

The phones-free event is only available in 35 countries around the world, and only two venues in the UK - Glasgow and Armagh - were chosen to take part.

Cathleen is a young woman with long, dark hair and silver glasses. She is smiling at the camera. She is wearing a black t-shirt and standing in front of a sign that points towards the planetarium's dome show room.

Armagh native and Bridgers fan Cathleen said she was "delighted" to see her hometown on the list of places showcasing the event.

"It's really cool, I don't think a lot of people would associate Armagh with contemporary, modern things, it's quite a historic town.

"So it's nice now we're getting recognised by a younger generation and younger artists."

Speaking before the showing, Cathleen said she could relate to most of Bridgers' music.

"Everyone's had those relationships and encounters," she added.

"I quite like acoustic music, so some acoustic numbers in there would be nice."

The audience sit in rows of seats in the planetarium's main dome room. The room is lit blue.

The Armagh Planetarium hosted four, sold-out showings on Tuesday, and another four will be held on Thursday.

Attendees have to put their phones and other smart devices into a pouch, which can only be opened by a magnet after the event is over.

'Her music is powerful'

Among those who were at Armagh Planetarium were Abbie and Scott, who had made the three-and-a-half hour journey from County Waterford.

"Sure, what else would you be at on a Tuesday night?" joked Scott.

The pair both have tickets to Bridgers sold-out run of shows in Dublin's 3Arena in November, but said the early listening event would be a good "preview".

"I relate to a lot of her songs," Abbie added. "I really like her song writing, and I think she's really cool."

Abbie and Scott pose for pictures in the hallway of the Armagh Planetarium. One is a young woman with her hair tied back, she is smiling at the camera and is wearing a white tank top and a silver, circle necklace. Scott, on the right, has curly hair and is smiling at the camera. He is wearing a white shirt with green, blue and black stripes.

Her relatable lyrics also brought friends Tara and Emma to the Planetarium for Tuesday's first showing.

"Her music is really powerful and it really helps connect people together," Tara said.

Emma agreed: "You can really understand the lyrics and it really shows the stages of growing up and life."

Emma and Tara are two young girls who are standing side by side. Emma on the left has long, dark hair and Tara on the right has long, blonde hair. Both girls are smiling at the camera.

Friends Emma, Bec and Arron were excited to hear the long-awaited new songs, and didn't particularly mind that they couldn't have their phones out during the show.

"It's nice just to switch off and you're not going to have someone's camera in your face or a flash going off in a room and ruin it for you," Arron said.

"They were all scrambling at the start saying, 'Don't text me'," Bec joked.

"We've sent all of our SOS messages in case anybody's looking for us," Arron added.

Three friends - Emma, Bec and Arron - stand side by side smiling at the camera. Emma on the left has short hair and is wearing a floral dress. Bec in the middle has short, dark hair and is wearing a pair of square glasses and a black t-shirt. Arron on the right has longer hair and is wearing a stripe shirt and a necklace.

'We're all about the music here'

Heather Alexander from Armagh Planetarium said there was a demand "never seen before" for the show, with phones ringing off the hook in the days before.

But, she added, it was an honour to be hosting it.

"It makes us feel so special because we're looking at all these other venues, like America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and then there's Armagh, Northern Ireland," she said.

Heather Alexander is a young woman with shoulder-length, red hair. She is wearing a grey t-shirt and a blue lanyard and is smiling at the camera. In the background are some models of planets but they are slightly blurred.

"It really puts us on the map to show that we are very keen to do collaborations like this, so if there's any other big stars out there that really want to do this type of immersive experience, we're all about it.

"We've just had the Fleadh in Belfast, we've shown that we're all about music and this event is just a little cherry on top for us."

And the verdict?

Critics have described Bridgers new album - her first solo record in six years - as a "daring exploration of love, grief and renewal".

Some lyrics make reference to Bridgers' engagement, and eventual break-up, with Irish actor Paul Mescal, and the record is dedicated to her father, who died a few years ago.

But for fans like Kev, the album's themes played well into the spatial experience.

"There's something both very human and very spacey about it, so I like that she married the two," he said.

"It was very calming, very emotive at the right time. There are songs on there that did really blow me away."

A head and shoulders picture of Kev. He has short, red hair and a beard. He is wearing a red polo t-shirt with a green collar. He is smiling at the camera. Behind him are different displays in the Planetarium, including some model displays of planets and stars.

Sisters Eibhlin and Emma were also among the 80-strong crowd in the event's first screening.

Both girls had an immediate one-word review: "Amazing."

"Before this, we had only heard one song so the whole rest of it was completely fresh and new and the visuals were amazing," Eiblin said.

Sisters Eibhlin and Emma smile at the camera while they have their arms around each other. Eibhlin on the left is wearing a black Phoebe Bridgers t-shirt, a gold necklace and has long, blonde hair. Emma, on the right, has her brown hair tied back and is wearing a pair of brown glasses.

"There were times I thought that the visuals linked really well to the music and the lyrics so it was just a really cool experience," Emma added.

However, time will tell whether it comes up top in their album rankings.

"I think you couldn't rank it after listening to it once, that's too hard. I need to focus harder next time to rank," Eibhlin explained.

Emma added: "I felt like it had a rockier, or even a folk sound to it which I really liked, that it was really cool.

"When it comes out properly then we can dissect the lyrics and see."

Original source What's it like to hear an unreleased album in a planetarium?

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