Review: Julia Wolf @ Brighton Music Hall 6/19

Photo Credit: Grandstand Media

Review by Kendal Evans

Heat and pressure usually make rocks, but on June 19, 2025, they made… an alternative, emo, metal-laced, trap-pop banger of a show? On one of the hottest summer days in Boston yet, Julia Wolf brought the Pressure Tour to Brighton Music Hall. And it still rocked. 

With the release of her third studio album, “Pressure,” on May 23rd of this year, Julia Wolf has found her genre-bending niche. The lead single, “In My Room,” has gone viral on TikTok, earning more than 25 million streams and throwing Julia’s name more into the mainstream. Pressure has earned consistently good reviews from critics, with many praising her ability to seamlessly blend pop, metal, emo, trap, indie, and even folk influences together in her writing, vocals, and production. 

The show opened with support from Ellis and Worry Club, who will continue to support Julia Wolf through the rest of her US tour, after which Julia Wolf will continue her tour supporting PVRIS in the EU and UK. Ellis brought an emo-dream pop sound to the stage, whereas Worry Club brought an indie-punk vibe. While very different from each other, they both did a fantastic job setting the tone for the main set. I actually met Chase from Worry Club very briefly after their set, as he walked right by me in the back of the venue. He was super nice, so extra props to them!

Then, at 8:30 p.m., Julia and her band took the stage. To no fault of their own, the show had a rocky start, with the live sound mixing being completely off the mark. Julia’s mic was so low she couldn’t be heard beyond the first few rows. They ended up stopping and taking it from the top, and it was smooth sailing from there! She reopened with “Loser,” and it hit extra hard after the delay. She then transitioned into “FYP” and “Kill You Off.” The latter was one of the highlights of the set for me, as it was my initial favorite off of “Pressure,” and it was even better live.

After these first few songs, Julia announced that she was going to perform one of her older songs, “Hydra,” and encouraged the crowd to join in singing along if they knew the throwback. I didn’t know this song going into the show, and it ended up being another highlight of the set for me! It brought me right back to that 2021 pandemic-era trap-pop sound, and I was suddenly nostalgic for a song I had never heard before.

In the next section of her set, Julia mixed new releases from “Pressure” in with some of her non-album singles. She played “Last Summer” into “Pearl,” both of which sounded great. Then, she announced that she was going to play the track that debuted her new sound, the 2023 single “Wishbone.” With a vocal tone reminiscent of Amy Lee from Evanescence, this performance wowed me and was yet another highlight of the set. She followed this performance with another non-album single, and most notably the only acoustic and slow song of the set, “Burning House (i wanna kiss you).” This piece let her vocals shine bright yet again, with the instrumentation taking the back seat.

The trend of alternating songs from Pressure and non-album singles continued in the next chunk of the set. She performed “Girls” and “Limewire” from Pressure, then moved into yet another pandemic-era throwback, “Hoops.” Although Julia’s performance of “Hoops” was solid, this one didn’t hit as hard as “Hydra” or the rest of the set for me. But, she picked the pace right back up with her 2024 single “Life Is A Storm.” The end of this piece made for easily the sweetest moment of the night, as there was a fan project wherein those on the barricade showered Julia with flowers. Julia paused and took the time to collect individual flowers from each fan, and stated that nothing like this had happened at her shows before. 

While many artists would have left the stage and come back for an encore at this point in the show, Julia took the Jack Antonoff route and made the main set the only set, which I greatly prefer to the whole unnecessary spectacle of a planned leave and return. While I don’t know if this was intentional or not, it was a small bit I greatly appreciated. 

The final section of the set was solely songs from “Pressure,” She picked back up after the fan project with “Sunshine State,” with the driving refrain making it such a fun live performance and yet another high moment of the set for me. She continued with “Jennifer’s Body,” another one of my favorites from “Pressure.”

The penultimate song of the night was “You’ve Lost A Lot of Blood,” the closing track from “Pressure.” I was not too familiar with the track going into the show. It starts out slow, and I was worried that the amazing energy the previous two tracks brought would dim before the closer. But I was proven wrong, as the slow burn build on the track revitalized me by the end. Finally, she closed the show with her biggest hit to date, “In My Room.” The crowd went wild and were easily the loudest and most energetic they’d been all night despite the overwhelming heat in the small, sold-out venue. 

While I’ve only listened to Julia Wolf a short while, I’ve quickly found myself craving her sound, and this was only made stronger after I saw her live. I’d highly recommend giving “Pressure” a listen and catching a show on this tour or her next!