Live Review: Bea Miller - Venue, Vancouver 18/05/2019
Bea Miller got real about life with her fans at Vancouver’s Venue Nightclub on the final night of her “It’s Not U It’s Me” tour.
It’s always interesting when an artist doesn’t have an opening or support act, but some artists just don’t need one. Bea Miller is one of those artists. There was a line outside the venue hours before doors opened, and once you got inside it felt as though you were stepping into a safe space where you can sing along to Camp Rock as loud as you want (and boy, did that happen). Miller’s pre-show mix was all kinds of throwback feels, making you instant friends with everyone else singing along around you.
Ever since her debut on the US version of The X Factor back in 2012, Miller has been steadily releasing music and growing as both a musician and an empowered woman. In between her high energy and pure joy at being on stage, Miller gave an in-depth and relatable insight into what inspired her newer songs, such as “motherlove” and “S.L.U.T.” With the stories varying from boys, the people you surround yourself with, and comments online, there seemed to be one recurring theme of self-love and care. At twenty years old, Miller seems to have gotten a handle on who she is as a person and what she stands for, which is very refreshing, especially when it’s delivered in her oh-so-relatable and slightly sarcastic, self-deprecating way.
On stage, Miller is is able to very successfully hold the attention of the crowd in front of her, while also making the show feel more like a gathering of friends as she connects with the people in the front row and beyond, joking around, and making everyone feel welcome. Her show is full of energy, as she bounds from one end of the stage to another, singing with seemingly everything she has. Towards the end of the show, things slowed down as she sat down to sing possibly her most emotional song, “Like That”, with one of her band members on acoustic guitar. It was a quick 180 of emotions as she went from openly crying (a mix of the song and it being the last show of tour) to having the whole room positively bouncing as she covered the Jonas Brothers’ “Burnin’ Up". The rest of the show continued on with the same fun and happy mood, ending off with, as she said herself, the song she will forever be known for, “Fire N Gold”, as well as the tour’s namesake “It’s Not U It’s Me”.
Bea Miller is an absolute firecracker of a pop-star, and even better, she knows who her audience and fans are. She is open enough in her performance to be real and truly connect with the people who take their time to go and see her. Even if you lost track of her in the past few years, there’s no better time than now to get caught up with this angel of a musician.
Words and photos by Kelli Anne.