More about: beabadoobee

With her recent second album, beabadoobee shared a more complicated side of herself; a messy, sprawling but totally enchanting 14-tracker which thrived in its juxtaposition. A blatant evolution from the admittedly appealing simplicity of her previous records, Beatopia made things more personal than ever, and this newly-awakened facet of her artistry has enabled a more interesting live show throughout her current UK tour.

Stopping off in the North East, the Filipino-British singer boasts the honour of being the first to truly open Newcastle’s newest music venue, NX. Although the reimagined structure of the old 02 Academy has been utilised for some introductory events in the weeks prior, the youthful indie buzz feels truly encapsulated tonight – with the new university term just started, hordes of Gen-Z fans swarm into the room long before Bea walks on stage.

This palpable enthusiasm works greatly in favour of the support act, Pretty Sick. Lead by Sabrina Fuentes, the New York rock trio have much to celebrate with their third LP, ‘Makes Me Sick Makes Me Smile’, having dropped less than a week ago, but the setlist is hardly relevant here as a plethora of muddy, thumping tracks come across as sonically messy but are lapped up regardless.

As her distinctive and scattered album artwork appears ahead, it is clear that there is a lot of ground to cover tonight and throughout the set, it isn’t always clear where Bea is going – but that doesn’t work to her detriment. Opening with soft-rock moshing to ’10:36’, following that with the indie-instilled ‘Apple Cider’ and moving swiftly on to the commanding rhythm section of ‘Care’, the jumps between material and eras of her own career are slick and sweet.

Having said that, it is the newer cuts that offer the most depth: acoustic noodling earns sincere applause on ‘The Perfect Pair’; the band settle into a slick groove with ‘Sunny Day’; ‘See You Soon’, a track which Bea declares as “truly special”, offers a unique blend between the two vibes she caters to; ‘Sorry’ emphasises that contrast with a more direct and explosive transition between instrumental attitudes.

There are a few fan-favourite exceptions, of course – ‘She Play Bass’ sees a noticeable increase to the already excessive number of phones recording every glimpse of the performance, and ‘Last Day On Earth’ is captivating in it’s simplicity. After the inevitable encore charade, Bea returns with an acoustic guitar and sits on a stool to deliver ‘Coffee’. This is a song with the virality to potentially define and trap a career inside that singular sharable moment, but instead it feels almost like a separate entity and comes almost as a surprise within the show – moving past such a moment while happily playing homage to it is no easy feat to achieve.

Guitarist Jacob Bugden returns to stage for ‘Ripples’, perhaps the rawest and most honest moment of the night as the two collaborators reminisce on the “crack room” they developed their record in, and this is the one and only time that Newcastle’s indie thrillseekers sit still and silent in sheer awe. ‘Cologne’ proves one last full-band thrasher to satisfy their desires and close off the evening.

Although Bea exudes innocence and naivety, her live band consistently juxtapose this with perfect intent. Despite being a fairly predictable hour or so of entertainment if you know her discography – grander stage production should be the next step in her journey of improvement - the crowd undeniably march into fresh air with a smile on their collective face. As beabadoobee has herself spoken on her thundering single ‘Talk’, “the whole idea is it’s a Tuesday night, and it’s like, ‘Fuck it.’ It’s not that deep” – mission accomplished, then.

See photos below from Marlowe Turner:

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More about: beabadoobee