Live Review: Serpentwithfeet - Meltdown Festival, Southbank Centre - London 09/06/2023
Serpentwithfeet’s sensational start to the Meltdown Festival 2023.
The Meltdown Festival opened on Friday with the sensational Shaé Universe. She lured the audience to an acapella chorus of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy. The astounded silence from the audience said everything. Shaé Universe introduces herself with a triumphant whoop echoing around the room and plunges into her track 'Misunderstood'. Sampling RJD2's dead-ringer album with smooth powerful vocals leads us into an exciting third song titled 'Sit Back' Featuring ENNY. A song about relaxing and enjoying the vibes around you.
Shaé Universe sings effortlessly while dancing around the stage, the sunshine behind her in a Renaissance dramatic painting. We are all listening intentionally standing at Southbank Center overlooking the Thames, this particular evening feels like summer has finally hit London, the streets alive with people and love with Shaé serenading us into the weekend. Shaé Universe’s next song 'You Lose' was a hit! I met a person in the audience called Libby who told me about how this song was spot on to how they were feeling and how they felt Shaé had looked into their heart. The relatable lyrics and catchy melodies got the audience swaying and hanging onto her every word.
“Royalty” featuring Kojey Radical was a personal favourite, with Shaé rapping and dancing, the lyrics washing over the crowd hanging onto every word she sings. She looks like royalty standing there confidently and comfortably, sunshine dripping down behind her, a river of gold.
Shaé Universe has an energy on stage that makes you feel safe, secure and free, her song '111' confirms this by saying 'You are exactly where you're meant to be, we all are'. We got treated to an exclusive listen to her new track, 'Summertime'. It made me feel like I was walking into a sunset by the ocean, so smooth and serene.
Shaé Universe was an incredible opener and I am a firm unmoving fan from Friday.
During the pause, the expectant audience grew and the venue was completely full to the brim. Everyone waiting for serpentwithfeet to grace the stage on this beautiful Friday night in London. A red tint bathes over the crowd and out comes Serpentwithfeet with a whip, sparkly sleeves and a dark blue bandana. Lightning bolts are projected behind him which are dramatic and emotional - like his music.
He walks over to the piano and gently sings with passion, he says “I like to break my own heart”. He sings so effortlessly over the piano, his vocal runs a waterfall cascading through the speakers. At the end of his songs, an audience member shouts, “It’s not hard loving you!” which is followed by a big smile and agreement from everyone.
“Same Size Shoe” was a roar from a crowd, Serpentwithfeet had everyone singing the next line “Wear the same shoe size” in the chorus, a song about trust and romance between people. Serpentwithfeet is having such a good time, it’s so enjoyable to watch him on the stage.
He talks about London and how he loves being here, writing songs with his friends and enjoying the city. He talks about the need to look for language when he was younger and finds the poetry anthology ‘In the Life: a black gay anthology’. He reads a few poems out as the show goes on and each one is more moving and more beautiful than the last.
He sings through songs from his DEACON album, holding the crowd in his grateful, sensual, warm, open arms. When ‘Lavaroq’ comes on, he dances around the stage, holding his sense of self-love and acceptance open to everyone in the room. You can’t help but feel relaxed and soothed by his presence and authentically being himself on stage, it puts everyone's troubles at the door and just to enjoy the space.
He speaks so gently into the microphone, he could lull you to sleep with his smooth vocals until the bass hits. I could feel the floor vibrating below me with every bass note, it made me want to move and sway to every song. “Disillusioned” hits the speakers, a song about love and giving it a go. He sings, “I’m scared of getting older .. maybe we should get together”, a feeling that a lot of us have felt at some point in our lives. The smooth tones filled my body and I felt almost floaty listening to SerpentwithFeet’s music. It was glorious!
“Old and Fine” had us swooning and dreaming of a film noir romance of growing “old and fine” with them. This leads us to “Mourning Song”, a sad song about working through your dark moments and coming out the other side. His lyrics are so poignant and relatable, but you feel the sadness together and get through it together.
He wowed the audience with a cover of, “Call it Magic” by Coldplay, a delicate, heartfelt and fun version, I hope he releases a full version of it. I want to listen to it again.
Serpentwithfeet has been working together with the audience for 50 minutes now and he talks about his next song, “Fellowship”. He talks about how he wrote in London with some amazing friends, Lil Silva and Sampha. Out on stage comes Lil Silva and ‘Fellowship’ kicks in, the whole place erupts and signs the key line - ‘My friends, I’m thankful for the love I share with my friends’. Everyone is dancing and singing together, hugging who they’ve come to the show with and big smiles all over the place.
Serpentwithfeet and Shaé Universe smashed the first night of Meltdown festival! Christine and Queen’s have his headline show on Sunday 18th June as the big finale to the festival. Be sure to get yourself down to Southbank and check out the festival!
Words by Hannah Kane
Photography credit: Victor Frankowski (Provided by Southbank)
