I Got My Aura Read At A Phoebe Bridgers Concert

In the social media economy, going to a concert is basically worth its weight in gold. An obligatory Instagram story ‘fit pic, a barricade selfie, a couple clips of your favorite songs, and a sweet send-off in your new merch will have you racking up likes, reactions, and replies faster than your average life update, but go to a no-phones concert, and what are you left with? That was the conundrum social-media obsessed fans were faced with while attending Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Tour — until Barclays Center found the answer.

The “Scott Street” singer brought her device-free, planetarium-inspired experience to Brooklyn for three nights last weekend. As transformative and rapturous as it was, I hesitate to call it “unforgettable” due to the fact that I have the memory of a sloth. Thankfully, Barclays Center sent me home with something even better than a video taken on my busted iPhone 13: my very own aura reading.

While superfans were queuing outside the venue, the Barclays Center team took me to the underbelly of the arena, where the Brooklyn-based aura photography company AuraCool had set up camp specially for Bridgers’ team and I. (Much like the show itself, the experience was phone-free, so you’ll just have to trust my word on this.) For the uninitiated, aura readings require each subject to sit in front of a black backdrop and rest their hands on a metal plate while a photographer snaps a Polaroid. The photo then develops with an array of colors, with each hue representing aspects of one’s energy. The final product is your “aura,” as it were.

My photo came out like a work of art: my heart and throat chakras were highlighted in yellow, my head flanked by bits of white, and a halo of blue, green, and pink were displayed above my head like a rainbow. Though the photo came with its own color key — blue means expression, indigo means wisdom, red means passion, etc. — a member of the AuraCool team also provided me with an in-depth reading, and boy, did it resonate.

“You are on the tail end of a transformation,” the reader began. “There's been a lot of healing work that you've been doing. Obviously healing is not linear, so you're going to have good days and bad days, particularly around the heart space and particularly around throat chakra. So speaking up for yourself, boundaries, second guessing things, stuff like that.”

“I feel like for you in particular, you are an excellent communicator,” she continued. “A lot of these tests when it comes to the healing that you've done is going to be communication. So it's a test on your boundaries, a test on standing firm on those boundaries, a test on showing up in spaces where maybe you felt small in the past and making your presence known.” I wouldn’t call myself an “excellent communicator” in the traditional sense, but considering I write for a living, it makes sense why she picked up on that in my reading, and why there’s still room for improvement. Yes, advocating for yourself is easier said than done, but knowing I’ve got great opportunities waiting for me on the other side is certainly a strong incentive.

If there’s one thing I can take away from my reading, it’s that I need to be kinder to myself through periods of healing. “I always like to say, ‘Just because you take two steps back, it doesn't take you three years back.’” Period.

Being a pretty woo-woo person myself, it wasn’t too hard for me to buy into the reading. But hey, sometimes all it takes is a stranger with a camera to say what you’ve been thinking for years to inspire a change of heart.

Through my back-of-house tour, I was also able to get a glimpse of the special cake the Barclays Center team had made for Bridgers, as well as the Lost Tour-branded Carhartt jackets they had made for her team. And because not every guest was able to get the backstage experience, the venue made sure to create moments that everyone could enjoy, too. Each night, Barclays Center gave out three custom tarot cards inspired by Bridgers’ music, for a total of nine collectible cards (I pulled The Sun card — if any tarot readers want to get in touch about what that means, LMK), and set up a photo booth inside the venue as a way for fans to get the shot at the phoneless concert.