Read previous – beabadoobee at Union Transfer in Philly
It’s been almost exactly a year to the day since beabadoobee last played Union Transfer in Philly. This time was different, though. The show was sold out in advance and by door time the line was already wrapped around the block and behind the venue. The Filipino-British artist released her sophomore LP Beatopia earlier this year and has been on a world tour ever since (playing international dates in the UK/EU, Asia, and Australia). While her audience has certainly grown in the last year, she’s about to blow up in a big way – she was recently announced as one of the openers on Taylor Swift’s long awaited stadium tour. Dubbed “The Eras” tour, the highly curated lineup of openers is a veritable who’s who of all-stars including Paramore, Phoebe Bridgers, MUNA, girl in red, HAIM, and Gracie Abrams. If this was a festival lineup, my head would explode.
Beatopia is beabadoobee’s most ambitious outing yet. Tracks like “10:36” and “Talk” are familiar territory, but Bea Kristi explores a wider sonic palette on tracks like R&B-flavored “Sunny day”, “Ripples” (which features orchestral strings), and “the perfect pair” (with its bossa nova groove). “Pictures of Us” is a beautifully produced math-y/Midwest emo-inspired number that gives me all of the emotions. Beatopia isn’t as cohesive as prior releases, but it’s beabadoobee’s most exciting and experimental work.
While beabadoobee first gained attention with her hushed style of acoustic bedroom pop, their live set is dominated by more uptempo tracks from Beatopia, Fake It Flowers, and the Our Extended Play EP. Nursing a cough, as well as enduring a grueling tour schedule, Kristi’s vocals were no worse for wear and she perfectly sparkled. No doubt proud of her culture, the flag of the Philippines was displayed at the side of the stage – having never in my life feeling so represented by an artist on stage, I was absolutely enamored. They closed out their set with Beatopia track “Talk” before returning for a 3-song encore kicked off with an acoustic performance of the song that started it all, “Coffee”, followed up by “Ripples”. Re-joined by the full band, they ended the night with “Cologne” and you bet your ass I was there until the very end.
They’ll be continuing their North American tour through the end of the year and will be joining Taylor Swift for 8 dates in the spring – see all of their upcoming tour dates here. Watch the music video for “Talk” below and keep scrolling for more photos from the show including opener Lowertown.
