On Tour

Save the L.A. Venue Where Phoebe Bridgers Met Conor Oberst

The Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles — where met — has launched a GoFundMe campaign amid the pandemic.

Bridgers posted a link to the theater’s campaign, accompanied by a clip of her covering Oberst’s solo track “Mamah Borthwick (a Sketch)” from 2016’s Ruminations. “If you can, donate to save the venue where I met Conor,” she wrote. “Here’s a Conor song.”

Bridgers first met Oberst there in the summer of 2016, when she performed at a secret show hosted by Oberst. They’d go on to form the folk-pop duo , dropping a self-titled debut in 2019.

“I definitely remember that very first moment of hearing her sing,” Oberst told Rolling Stone last year. “It was just one of those voices that sounds completely unique — but also sounds like, ‘There’s that friend I should have had my whole life.’”

The Bootleg Theater has a GoFundMe goal of $25 thousand dollars. “Our box office staff, bartenders, security, sound engineers and day-to-day staff rely on our regular programming for work,” they wrote. “Today, we are asking you to help our incredible, dedicated staff members make ends meet during this time of crisis in which we cannot operate as expected. All proceeds will be dispersed evenly to our staff. Thank you so, so much in advance for your time and kindness.”

Bridgers and Oberst recently appeared as production assistants on Conan O’Brien’s new digital series, Meet the Conan Staff. Bridgers released “Garden Song” last month, her first new solo material in three years, accompanied by a video of her ripping a bong and hanging out with fuzzy creatures.