So, two weeks and a day ago (I can’t believe it was that long ago!), I went with my friend and dad to see Ella Eyre on tour at the Bristol O2 Academy. Back in August, I had discovered her song ‘Comeback’ and fallen in love with the video, before discovering she was taking her solo tour to Bristol, the closest it was going to get to where I live. I suggested it to my friend and persuaded my dad that he wanted nothing more than to take me to this concert, and a week later the tickets were booked.
We missed her first support act, Joel Baker, as we were paying a visit to a nearby Burger King (I don’t normally go to Burger King, but I’ve now discovered I really like it!) but caught the second one, Seinabo Sey. Seinabo had a rich, powerful voice that certainly had similarities with Ella’s, though I don’t think her songs were as pop-like as Ella’s were. She wasn’t chatty, saying she would ‘let her songs do the talking’. She kept singing through a powercut, even when some audience members yelled that they couldn’t hear her – it’s not like she could do much about it! I probably would have preferred it if she spoke about herself/her music a bit more, but despite being shy I enjoyed some of her music. Here is one of her songs that I enjoyed most and that I can still partially remember! I personally feel that the electronic elements in this song had a smoother transition when played live, but I think that most of the time they meld into the background well.
The venue itself was actually really interesting – there was the ground floor, and then there were stairs up to a balcony, where there was a smaller raised platform at the back. We managed to get in on the second-floor balcony behind some student-age couples, the males of which actively danced along and knew the words to every single song, whilst at times their girlfriends appeared to act as if they’d forgotten they knew them! The venue was fairly full – the ground floor was pretty packed, and although there was space on the second floor, there were points around the balcony where it was two deep.
Ella Eyre then came onstage at 9:15, in an interesting outfit – some kind of leopard print, barely opaque all-in-one jumpsuit thing. She was full of energy, although I feel the start of her set may have been better if she started with a couple more well known songs. As well as performing most of her own songs, she did a cover of Sigma and Paloma Faith’s ‘Changing’, which she actually wrote, and a cover of Jermaine Stewart’s ‘We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off’. Songs she performed included ‘Deeper’, ‘Waiting All Night’, ‘Home’, ‘If I Go’, ‘All About You’ and to close the show, ‘Comeback’.
After walking off, she reappeared and asked the crowd if we wanted another song. When a reply came strongly in the affirmative, she announced that she actually had two songs left for us! I can’t remember the first of those two but she finished on ‘Comeback’, which she introduced by saying “Now everyone sing along, because after this one we’re all going home!” – it certainly was satisfying to yell along to!
She was a great performer, and gave us a taste of what’s going to appear on her debut album as well as her previous hits. I ended the night by buying/getting my dad to buy me an incredibly soft-if-big T-shirt, and the arrival back home at gone midnight was well worth it, as was the ticket price taken out of my pocket money. I can’t wait for her album now, and am just as in love with her hair as I was before!
Here are a few videos people near the front put:
‘Changing’:
‘Comeback’ *this one’s explicit*:
‘We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off’:
I actually think the guy that filmed this one was just in front/next to me and my friend…
‘Waiting All Night/Changing’ *yeah, this one’s explicit too*:
This was actually from her Bournemouth show, but replicates pretty clearly her Bristol show.
The only down point of the evening was when we waited outside at the end, but she got immediately put into a car to ‘drive back to London’, apparently – although she had announced that night on Twitter she was going to be meeting people before the show by the merch stand, but that was when the doors opened and we needed to eat something and park first!
My dad, who I’m very grateful to for taking us, was pretty funny – he took his iPad, and whenever we looked up to the platform where he was stood, he was on his iPad or looked to be asleep! Haha 🙂 Thanks dad!
Have you seen anybody live, and have you visited the O2 Academy in Bristol?
An Overthinking Teenager
mixolydian musings 