Live Review: Angst and Ardor With beabadoobee in Columbus

December 10, Newport Music Hall

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A rainy, cold night was not enough to dampen the excitement of the campus crowd at Newport Music Hall. Bedroom pop dynamo beabadoobee, real name Bea Laus, gathered exactly the energetic audience you’d expect for a viral TikTok sensation and self-taught 21-year old guitarist, and that energy in turn brought out a great performance from beabadoobee, as well as the two openers, BLACKSTARKIDS and Christian Leave.

 

BLACKSTARKIDS opened the night with a bang as the trifecta traded bars and harmonized over melancholy pop-punk beats, the energy crackling out into the crowd, peaking with their performance of ‘LOVE, STARGIRL’, a heady mix of modern indie pop, hip-hop, and 90s nostalgia. Three high school friends from Kansas City, TyFaizon, The Babe Gabe, and Deiondre fill out the ranks of a group that has a surplus of charm and passion, their joy in performing was clear to see throughout the set. Much of their set came from their newest album, ‘Puppies Forever’, an escalation of their bright, poppy synth soundscape replete with Weezer-type sadboy lyrics and 2000s references. ‘Juno’ was easily the standout from their new album, the hook irresistibly asking “Who needs another thing to be sad about?”

 

The familiar tones of The Simpsons theme song rang through the hall as the second act, Christian Leave, stumbled onto the stage in the middle of a chicken-fight, with frontman Christian Akridge battling his guitarist on the shoulders of their bandmates. That fun chemistry was evident throughout a smoothly delivered set. The vibes were certainly chill but the crowd was pumped up when he took the stage,

A humble beginning to the show, Bea Kristi, drummer Louis Semlekan-Faith, bassist Eliana Sewell, and guitarist Jacob Bugden took the stage quietly to perform ‘Sun More Often’. The rollicking ‘Fake It Flowers’ was the project that made up most of beabadoobee’s set that night, leaning into her more rock inspired sound to pump up the energy. That album cranked up the pace of her sound from chunky comfy sweater in a coffee shop to denim jacket on the back of a motorcycle, and those two moods could be seen switching off all night as her intimate vocals waxed on through sticky coming-of-age emotions.

 

After the first few songs, I noticed that the music sounded great, but it seemed like Kristi’ mind was elsewhere at times. This was my first time seeing beabadoobee live, but Sewell and Bugden were certainly bringing a palpable energy and the crowd was with them. It wasn’t until ‘She Plays Bass’ that it felt like the frontwoman caught up to the room and when that happened, the show truly came to life. ‘Last Day On Earth’ is one of the standouts from her new EP Our Extended Play and that night she brought BLACKSTARKIDS back out to end her set on that remarkably fun atmosphere before returning for an encore made up of the first song she ever wrote, the charming ‘Coffee’, and the fierce, catchy banger ‘Cologne’.

 

The beginning of the set may have needed a bit of a dust-off, but once things were in motion, anyone could see the chemistry and talent of a band hitting their stride and going from strength to strength.