Beabadoobee’s gig at the O2 Academy Leeds felt familiar, despite the screaming crowds and massive venue. I’ve seen Beabadoobee four times now – and made two more attempts (RIP Leeds Fest 2024). Seeing the audience at the Academy this November was surreal. From seeing her at the 400 capacity Bullingdon in 2019 to the 2300 capacity O2 Academy, it’s safe to say that Beabadoobee’s success seems like it has no limits. Her audience is relentlessly getting bigger and, based on her performance at this gig, she’s only getting better.
The supporting act was American indie rock band Momma, who suited Beabadoobee’s audience perfectly. Their catchy electric guitar lines and crashy sound felt like a hint of what was to come, and coincidentally with their names, they sounded a bit like Soccer Mommy. Their performance was smooth and effortless, with their newest song ‘Ohio All The Time’ being a hit with the crowd.
Soon after it was time for the headline act. The lights went down and the audience cheered. A murmuring blur of noise, and the audience got louder. As she stepped on stage following her band, the crowd was ecstatic. She opened the gig with ‘California’ from her newest album This Is How Tomorrow Moves, of which she played 8 other tracks throughout. It was a clear winner to start with, and got everybody jumping. Beabadoobee often encourages moshing at her gigs, and this was no different. She called for the crowd to open up a circle bit to ‘Charlie Brown’ from Fake It Flowers, and they were immediately on it. The lighting was red, a change from the studio-like white lighting before, and the energy was high.
Moving into some of the slower songs, Beabadoobee introduced ‘Everseen’ by telling her audience, ‘You guys have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.’ I had shivers listening to this song live. It felt like love encompassed in music, and the rest of the audience was clearly feeling that tenderness too. Entirely silent apart from the crowd singing along, Beabadoobee had pulled all focus. Vulnerable ‘Girl Song’ had a similar reaction, except with the addition of brief shouts of encouragement for Beabadobee. The song artfully discusses body image – ‘Just a girl who overthinks about proportions or her waist’ – in a way that resonates so deeply, that it hushed a 2000-person audience.
There were a couple of moments that spoke to the clear shift in Beabadoobee’s audience and popularity in recent years. ‘Real Man’ is trending on TikTok, and lots of the audience started doing the popular dance alongside the live track. Beabadoobee had recognised the dance two shows before this one, bringing the original creator of the dance onstage. A quieter (though still enthusiastic) reaction to ‘She Plays Bass’ and ‘Coffee’, some of her earliest hits, showed that fans have been discovering Beabadoobee through a range of her tracks – not just the eternally trending ‘Coffee’.
A review of the This Is How Tomorrow Moves tour would not be complete without discussing the fantastic set design. The first half of the show has Beabadoobee and the band in a space resembling a studio, with a white backdrop and studio lights. It was not unlike The 1975’s iconic black-and-white house set for the At Their Very Best Tour. The inspiration is not an unlikely source; The 1975’s Matty Healy had a five year stint as director at her record label, Dirty Hit, and has previously helped her write tracks like ‘Pictures of Us’.
In the middle of Beabadoobee’s personal favourite track on the new album, ‘Beaches’, the white backdrop fell to the ground, revealing a new natural design. Leaves climbed up the back of the stage in the same way ivy climbs up a tree trunk – you can see the big reveal in Beabadoobee’s performance of Beaches live for Jimmy Kimmel.
The encore was three songs – Coming Home, The Way Things Go, and See You Soon. Ramping up in intensity, Beabadoobee walked offstage with a roaring audience. Anyone who had attended the show with little knowledge of the singer was cemented as a fan now, likely to See Her Soon on the tour for her next mindblowing album. Leaving the O2 Academy with the rest of the crowd to ‘Dancing Queen’, it was clear that Beabadoobee is an undeniable stand-out of the decade. She captured the hearts and attention of everyone in the audience that night, as I’m sure she’ll continue to do moving into her EU dates.