beabadoobee - live at the Aragon Ballroom

Last month, I had the incredible opportunity to see my favorite English (in both senses) artist, beabadoobee, live!! I ended up seeing two concerts that week--the other one being Lamp--and it was just magical. I had never even waited outside for a concert before the doors opened, yet for both of them I ended up standing halfway around the block of the venues for a good chunk of time. Between that and standing during the concerts themselves, I swear I was only able to pull through because I was with my favorite concert buddy, my partner.

Lamp was a gorgeous concert, but Bea's performance was otherworldly. The openers, Keni Titus and Hovvdy, were also outstanding and surprised me with how much I ended up liking them.

This tour was to honor the release of her latest album, This Is How Tomorrow Moves, so the setlist had many songs off that record mixed in. This was the complete list:

• California

• Talk

• 10:36

• Charlie Brown

• Post

• Take A Bite

• Sunny Day

• Ever Seen

• the perfect pair

• Real Man

• Glue Song (unfortunately, no surprise Clairo appearance)

• Coffee

• Girl Song

• One Time

• Beaches

• Care

• Together

• She Plays Bass

• Cologne

• Coming Home

• the way things go

• See you Soon

I have to say, this set had the PERFECT mix of new favorites and old classics. It was especially nostalgic to hear her play "Coffee"--that was the song that was many people's first introduction to her back when Powfu's lo-fi remix of the song blew up on TikTok. I remember falling in love with the original version and only knowing Bea for that song until "the perfect pair" started playing on my job's radio, and I fell in love with her music all over again. That was about a year and a half ago, and she's been such a major part of my music sphere since.

Bea is the kind of artist I think I could attend a million concerts of and never get bored. Her music just envelopes you and lets you get caught up in the moment. Be it with the vigor in her rock songs or the soul-crushing gentleness of her soft songs, Bea's sound will touch the hearts of everyone her music can reach. Certainly a 100/10 concert experience.

On one final note, I have to give my two cents on "Beaches": it has got to be my favorite song of the year by a landslide. Even with the absolute bangers pumped out by the likes of Clairo and Stray Kids this summer, "Beaches" is a song that will stand the test of time without so much as faltering. It has this indescribable feeling of acceptance and hope bottled into a fruitful 3 minutes and 50 seconds. I will leave you all with her words because this is something everyone needs to remember:

Don't wait for the tide just to dip both your feet in.