By Francesca Sinisi
Just when I thought I couldn’t love Beabadoobee anymore than I already do, I saw her perform at Brooklyn Steel and she’s everything I dreamt she’d be and more.
I would describe this as the perfect Friday night and an even more perfect kickoff to Halloweekend. I’d never been to Brooklyn Steel before and while it did look like a blackout version of my middle school gymnasium, I liked the size and how easy it was to get there. It was the perfect sized crowd for the venue as well, definitely a little smushed but I wasn’t being pushed around so I was a happy camper.
The crowd was also friendly and dressed festively in adorable costumes, so no complaints here. She started with “10:36”, which had the whole crowd jumping as one unit. This might be my favorite song off of Beabadoobee’s latest album, “Beatopia” so this was amazing to see live! This song was performed with very high energy. It was a great way to begin the show. She kept it high energy with “Talk”, and “Tinkerbell is Overrated”. In person, she sounds even better than the recording and had a lot of fun playing around on stage.
The vibe changed when Beabadoobee left the stage for ten minutes and came back with two violins and a cello. She talked about how much she loves the strings and how essential they are to the listening experience of “Beatopia.” She then played some of her slow songs like “Lovesong”, “Ripples” (I cried, she cried, everyone was in tears), and an unreleased song called “Blue Song”, which she said she wrote because she’s “just so in love.” Are you kidding me? She’s also pretty when she cries, but you could already guess that much.
Beabadoobee finished the show off with some more upbeat tunes before calling it a night. Her guitarist, Jacob Bugden, who helped her write “Beatopia”, was another notable part of the show and had such a great presence on stage with an amazing voice as well. Watching Bea have fun with her songs, dance around on stage, and create such an intimate and vulnerable setting has made me appreciate and dig her music even more. If you’re not listening to Beabadoobee you’re doing something wrong!
