On Sunday, April 30, 2023, a live show took place in a friendly coastal city, where the cars are loud, the food is good, and people sit in a theater and clap for their favorite performers. Welcome to Night Vale (at College Street Music Hall in New Haven, CT).

Welcome to Night Vale is a podcast that takes place in a small desert town somewhere in the southwestern United States and is generally told from the point of view of Cecil Gershwin Palmer, a host at the Night Vale radio station. Just when you think something in Night Vale resembles our reality, the writing takes a sharp right turn into oddity, and its cast of characters only gets weirder. It proves to be a delightful listen.

I’ve been a fan of Welcome to Night Vale since 2016. I sat in my middle school’s library and listened to the first podcast on a chilly February morning while I researched something for my 8th grade English class. And even though I was focused on my work, it was that moment when I fell in love with the dulcet tones of Cecil Baldwin’s voice and the incredibly strange writing of Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor.

I attended their final live show on their The Haunting of Night Vale tour at College Street Music Hall. I went with my favorite librarian, Joi (and unlike the librarians in Night Vale, Joi is an absolute gem of a person). The show included Cecil Baldwin as Cecil Gershwin Palmer, Symphony Sanders as Tamika Flynn, and Jeffrey Cranor as Prof. Harrison Kipp. It also featured music by Disparition (Jon Bernstein), and the Weather was Mal Blum.

This event was my first ever live show, and even though I sat in the second-to-last row of the theater, I’m sure you could hear my shouts of joy from the stage. The show started with an introduction by Jeffrey Cranor, which segued into Mal Blum’s opening five-song set. My favorite was “Candy Bars & Men,” which is off their new queer country album, Ain’t It Nice. I haven’t had a chance to listen to a lot of his music, but I have quickly become a Mal Blum stan over the last couple of days.

After Mal finished their set, Jeffrey lauded their character and then introduced Disparition and Cecil Baldwin. Disparition’s music set the scene perfectly as Cecil started the show with a rousing “Welcome to Night Vale.” The crowd roared, and I felt my entire being radiate joy and love for this spectacular podcast.

The general premise of the show is that Cecil (the character) is building a home with his family with help from the Property Brothers, but ghosts infest the house and the citizens of Night Vale. Chaos ensues, and Cecil is worried if he will ever get to enjoy sharing a space with the people whom he loves.

Without giving away too much about the show, this live show does what a lot of Night Vale has done for a long time: it grounds itself in the motifs of love and home.

Night Vale is about a community, a strong community, that comes together in many ways when someone is struggling. Families lift each other up. People gather to celebrate achievements and mourn losses. Everyone values the town’s idiosyncrasies, especially when someone is in crisis. Seeing Welcome to Night Vale in person on Sunday felt like coming home, and I hope to return very soon.