Lucy Dacus @ Leith Theatre (EIF), Edinburgh, 25 Aug

Inside the beautiful Leith Theatre, one third of indie-rock supergroup boygenius, Lucy Dacus, is on her second trip to Scotland in a year. A COVID-enforced rescheduling and a last-minute venue change meant that her show in Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket earlier this year was only half full, so it’s good to see that there’s not a ticket to be found for tonight’s International Festival show.

The venue looks bonnier than ever and it’s a fitting setting for the Virginia singer-songwriter whose warmth reaches all the way from the stage to the back of the room. In front of a tape player graphic similar to that which adorned last year’s excellent Home Video, she gets through 16 tracks in little more than an hour-and-a-quarter, including most of her most recent record.

Starting with Triple Dog Dare’s gentle build, it’s a warm and winning set which comes with few surprises but plenty of charms. Hot & Heavy, VBS and Brando show off Dacus’s ability to craft miniature portraits of moments that are both specific and universal – you don’t need to have been to Bible camp to recognise the red faces and teenage embarrassment at the heart of these songs.

Midway through the set she reveals that Partner in Crime was written in Edinburgh. The autotuned verses are still a matter of taste but nevertheless it’s a welcome shuffle outside her indie folk comfort zone. Another experiment is less successful: a cover of Cher’s Believe that manages superficial silliness but little else. A good cover should either reveal hidden depths to the songwriting of the original or shed new light on the work of the artist doing this cover but sadly rather than reach for peak camp or fully commit to a fiddles-and-reels reinvention, it remains a fleeting pleasure.

Image: Lucy Dacus @ Leith Theatre (EIF), Edinburgh, 25 Aug by Jess Shurte

The whole band bust out the acoustics for Going Going Gone but it’s the wailing electric guitars of Night Shift which get the biggest cheer of the night. While her new record may be her most musically subdued, there are still plenty of chances for her tight band to shine, especially her talented and fluid guitar player, who flits between fizzed-up noise and gentle fingerpicking with ease.

This show is billed as the first date on a new leg of the tour but the truth is most of it will be intimately familiar to anyone who has followed her journey over the past two years. Whether it’s label hell or the difficulty of finding a vinyl pressing plant, there’s a little bit of a sense that it’s time to shake up the setlist.

Fortunately though, there’s just time for a final acoustic encore of a new track about watching fireworks over New York delivered with a plea not to record and share it online until she's had a chance to produce a studio version. Based on tonight’s performance, there will be many waiting with bated breath.

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Edinburgh International Festival returns in 2023, from 4-27 Aug

eif.co.uk