BEABADOOBEE // BECKETT UNIVERSITY, LEEDS
Sugary Shoegaze Grunge Rock Returns To The Stage In The form Of Beabadoobee
★★★★☆ (4/5)
BEABADOOBEE PERFORMING AT LEEDS BECKETT UNIVERSITY
PICTURE BY: | JOHN HAYHURST PHOTOGRAPHY
There seemed to be more concern in the security personnel of how you pronounce her name, rather than sorting the stifling heat of the SU Stage at Leeds Beckett Uni tonight. They obviously had never heard of Beabadoobee (pronounced ‘Be-Ba-Dooby’ if you’re interested) before. Scores of young students were queuing up in a thunderstorm just to get a spot on the rail at the front.
Beatrice Kristl Laus was actually born in the Phillipines but has lived in London since the age of 3 and only swapped violin for guitar when she was 17, now 21, she has released a couple of EPs and recent album ‘Fake It Flowers’ and this is her first chance to tour it, since Covid took hold.
Beabadoobee has played on some big festival stages this year, namely Latitude and Leeds/Reading and has toured briefly with The 1975 but this is really the first time that she has seen her own set of fans – she gets an early glimpse by peering over the balcony above the stage and is greeted by hundreds of young faces all shrieking at her.
Once on stage the nerves disappear and we have an hour of 90’s inspired sugary shoegaze indie rock, somewhere between Hole and Sleeper, and it feels refreshingly good to see everyone getting off to a guitar band again, after years of Karaoke/TVTalent Show/DJ/Rap nonsense. If this girl can inspire the next generation to pick up guitars and write their own bouncing indie classics, then she goes very high in my book. My favourite tune ‘She Plays Bass’ (not on the album) is nothing short of immense tonight and even starts a brief circle pit for the chorus.
Encore is ‘Coffee’, which was her breakthrough tune written years ago and then picked up by rap star Powfu, before millions of Tik Tok users took it to a whole new level. This gets everyone singing along with phones in the air, but then final track ‘Cologne’ has some serious rocking powerhouse guitar thrown in for good measure.
My only complaint is the set is over far too quickly and you feel that she has much more to give – she didn’t play ‘I wish I was Stephen Malkmus’ which would have been off the chart I’m sure, especially as Pavement this week have just announced they will return to the UK live music scene in 2022 – wouldn’t it be great to see Beabadoobee as part of that tour.
Whilst she was nominated as ‘one to watch’ in the same year that Billie Eilish went stratospheric, there is so much to love here tonight, and I would catch these early gigs before the bigger stages are beckoning in years to come.