Festival Review: Warpaint - Meltdown Festival, Southbank Centre - London 12/06/2023
WARPAINT radiated through Meltdown Festival, the Californian four-piece astonished the audience and left them wanting more.
Meltdown Festival is turning into the most incredible showcase of talent in music, every act I’ve had the chance to see has blown me away and tonight was no exception. In the concert hall of the Southbank centre next to the Thames, I sit down and take in my beautiful surroundings as I start to imagine Warpaint’s songs in this scene.
7:30 pm hits the clock and four blue spotlights appear on the stage like some dusty, world-class jazz bar showcasing Amie Blu’s band. The audience quiets down and out walks Amie blue, confident, poised and smiling ear to ear. Her song, “All for You” starts and the honesty in her lyrics makes me feel like melting ice cream in the sun. She sings “Never know what to say, never know what to do” accompanied by the dreamy guitar riffs that had my ears and heart in a spin.
Her soft vocals talk into deep moments in life and leave them on the table for you to take if you are ready to, she sings sincerely and passionately, “I don’t want to fade away”. Amie is in the moment, hitting every drum beat and break in each of her songs. I find myself in her dreamy world and she keeps making herself laugh at her own jokes in between each song. A source of endearment which makes everyone in the audience fall in love with her.
“Powder” is a powerful song, it is about losing a friend to substance addiction. I could feel the emotion in every word she sang, the pain behind the song speaks volumes to everyone in this concert hall. She plays us an unreleased track, “Nine Lives” a song about when she didn’t want to be here anymore and like the rest of her music, you feel every word.
“Carry On” is another unreleased track about how she broke up with someone at the train station and the lyrics are spot on as she sings, “I don’t think I can carry on”. Beautifully elegant and spot-on.
Amie Blu is so comfortable up there, she is enjoying herself so much smiling and loving her band and gets the audience to cheer for them as she thanks them. My favourite moment was her last song, “Are we Alright?”, a song about heartbreak, and difficulty in romantic relationships with the simple question - Are we alright?
As Amie Blu leaves the stage, people get up to grab their quick pint before Warpaint comes on. The stagehands frantically move everything like ants in an anthill, it is impressive how quickly they set everything up.
Before we know it, the time is here.
Warpaint.
The Californian dream team.
Their opening number, “Stars” gets a few people out of their seats and Emily says, “If one starts, the rest will follow.” A red glow over the venue while they play “Stars” a moody masterpiece, filled with harmonies and building tension.
The four pieces stand strong against the red, in their element.
They change effortlessly into, “Champion”. The lead single from their latest album. They are silhouetted against the colourful backdrop, the flashing lights fit with the drum fills as they hypnotise everyone with how cool they really are.
They ooze a feeling of calmness, and oneness and work together non-verbally with the drums' steady heartbeat, the guitars dancing around each other in a delicious delight. After the final note of “Champion” rings out, the audience roars and cheers and Warpaint welcomes London with arms wide open. They say how they love performing in London and it’s one of their favourite places to perform, we wait expectantly while they have a giggle on stage soaking in every moment.
Before we know it, Jenny is dancing around the stage and Emily is singing her heart out and we hear the song, “Hips”. The breakdown in this song takes over the show, each song having a bigger breakdown than the last. A Yellow wash of lights illuminates the crowd and everyone sings back, “I won’t forget, I won’t forget”.
The talent emanating from these four women is powerful, they are all incredible but together they are supernatural. One of my highlights of their whole set was their song, “It’s hard to tell you”. The wall of sound that soaked into every pour of everyone there was incredible and the powerful vocals coming from Emily hit every musical bone in my body. The rhythmic drums coming from Stella pedalling give Warpaint one of their typical Warpaint sounds, along with the lyrics hitting home for so many people. “It’s hard to tell you what I wanted”, surrounded by harmonies, guitar riffs and an incredible bass line, the place exploded with screams of adoration and love for the music. Arms and bodies move and sway to the music being performed to them.
“Love is to die” is a cult favourite for fans of Warpaint, it’s from one of their second albums “Warpaint”, and as soon as that high-hat kicks in everyone's super excited about what is about to happen. The melodies are stunning and sound incredible in this gorgeous venue, it feels almost like a spiritual experience with the music and the atmosphere here. “Love is to be dance” followed by everyone dancing and floating around to the music. The lights are moving along with the song making the experience even more out of this world, almost like a musical instrument themselves. The breakdown in this song is even more hypnotic and full with the song ending on an acapella chorus - stunning!
At this point in the show, Warpaint had turned up the dial and everyone is ready for whatever Warpaint throws at them. The riff to “Undertow” hits us and everyone rumbles ecstatic. Theresa dances barefoot across the whole stage while guitar soloing, Emily and Jenny are facing each other rocking out while Stella on the drums is feeling every beat behind them. They move like water around the stage, with an energy unmatched. The guitar tone is so meaty you could eat it. This show is a special one.
ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!
ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!
Warpaint has been playing for over an hour and the audience still wants more.
Warpaint comes back on and starts playing, “White out”. The guitar riff played and my favourite line, “Before you know it you’re running out of time.'' Everyone is dancing and living for Warpaint, you can see the happiness and excitement on their faces as they play and live out their songs.
“Nudes” was spectacular, with Theresa singing and performing this one before their final song.
Their final song was a mash-up of “No way out” and “Elephants”. It was truly incredible. The lights had dark blue spotlights that would change every few beats to dark red stripes across the stage. I found myself being absolutely obsessed with this finale, truly one of the best I’ve heard and seen. The musicality and creativeness of Warpaint is unparalleled and it was an exceptional show from them. Cannot wait for another tour!
With Christine and the Queens on Sunday for his headline show of this Meltdown festival, this festival is proving us every day with its incredible talent and music.
Words by Hannah Kane
Photography credit: Victor Frankowski (Provided by Southbank)
