Live Review: Kae Tempest - Village Underground, London 31/03/2025
Kae Tempest is a beacon of light in the dark, giving a performance filled with hope, joy, and defiance and leaving the entire room floating on Monday evening at the Village Underground.
Kae Tempest is very much in a league of their own - a Mercury Music Prize-nominated, award-winning poet, playwright, author, musician - a master of words whose talents feel limitless. They have found the right balance, the perfect blend of spoken word and music - something that is quite hard to get right but Tempest is the leader, the visionary, the commander of their field - and their sold-out, one-of-a-kind show at London’s Village Underground on Monday night proved why they are the best at what they do.
Village Underground, a unique underground East London venue, was abuzz on Monday night as people flocked in to witness what was guaranteed to be something incredibly special. Special because it was a smaller venue, a promise of an intimate experience with an artist who has the ability to make every person in a room feel seen. Special because March 31st was International Trans Day of Visibility, and with transphobia being at an all-time high, being in a space surrounded by people full of love and acceptance and supporting an artist who has been on a journey of transition themselves felt…reassuring. Reassuring that there are these pockets of light and people who shine despite the world venturing further into darkness.
Supporting Kae Tempest was Piglet, also known as Charlie Loane, an Irish artist from Belfast, whose music focuses on their own queer and trans experiences. The chatter amongst the crowd quickly fell silent when Piglet came out with their guitar and started their set - goosebumps, chills, collectively felt by the audience. Dancing with ayesha, the opening song was raw, human, a punch to the gut with lyrics that would bring you to tears “we have linked our arms against the cops, against the state - right now we are dancing, we are joyful, we are safe.” A song that was setting the theme for the evening. There was a warm aura around Piglet, a captivating and moving figure who caught the attention of the audience right off the bat. Piglet was a joy to witness, interacting with the crowd and not afraid to speak out against injustices, including the genocide of Palestine - dedicating one of their tracks to those suffering the consequences of the state for protesting and speaking out on the cause. They also performed a track called it isn’t fair, which focuses on the struggles of accessing health care through the NHS as a trans person. Piglet is a force to be reckoned with and a unique talent, a craftful lyricist, a real ray of light.
The crowd waited with bated breath for Kae Tempest to come on, shuffling further in, manoeuvring through each other in an attempt to get closer to the stage, to bear witness to a master at work. A billowing curtain hung beyond the stage, the silhouettes of three backing singers appearing behind it as the lights began to rise, their harmonising vocals announcing that the show had begun. Tempest took to the stage a blazing presence - sharp suit, a sharper fade, supporting a stubble - they were radiating joy as they began their set with No Prizes that beautifully merged into Lionmouth Door Knocker, “at any given moment in the middle of the city / there’s a million epiphanes occurring / in the blurring of the world beyond the curtain.”
Most artists know to expect the unexpected with live shows, so Kae Tempest was prepared when moments into the start of their set, things came to a halt - their keyboard and synth player having technical difficulties “perhaps this is the universe’s way of getting me to greet you” Tempest joked to a crowd who seemed very much happy to just be in the presence of the poet slash singer. While stage crew got to work solving the issues, Tempest treated their devout crowd to a brand-new spoken word piece about their experience being trans, a poem that left seven hundred people quiet enough to hear a pin drop, “sometimes every cell on my skin feels too heavy…why are trans bodies always on the agenda.”
Technical issues solved, Kae Tempest and their crew rewound, restarted, and the crowd cheered as if it was for the very first time. They took to the stage once again, smile on their face, to put on what would be an unforgettable performance. A promise of new work, a potential new album, as five new songs were performed during the set. Flowing seamlessly from Priority Boredom into a new piece, Diagnoses, the words “I’d be more worried if we weren’t more disturbed” flashing across the curtain in a sharp white light, it was a fierce, poignant track focusing on mental health, neurodivergence and the cultural wars we seem to be encountering more and more, and was met with cheers of support from the crowd at Tempest’s line “it’s a good job I turned that MBE down.” A protest, an act of rebellion, a fight for a better future.
The audience, quiet, captivated, moved to tears by Tempest’s performance of Salt Coast, the addition of the backing singers elevating it, creating a hauntingly beautiful performance, Tempest having a way with words that will leave your chest aching “I love your sleeve-pulling nervousness, I love the way you crumble into chalk at your edges….keep going and it will get better.” Kae Tempest has perfected their flow, moving from song to song effortlessly, like water, Salt Coast into an intense, fiery performance of Perfect Coffee, hearts beating in time, no pause, they move straight into Smoking, “there can’t be healing until it’s all broken.”
The powerful execution of Move, with “I’ll fight you til I win” appearing, bold and bright in lights behind Tempest as they move across the stage, comfortable, strong, joyous, moving their body as smoothly as they do their words, straight into More Pressure. And with the beat of the well-loved piece comes the infectious, heartbursting energy in the Village Underground warehouse. It is overpowering, bodies dancing, faces full of adoration staring at the open soul with their heart on their sleeve, vibrant on the stage. Nothing but love was coursing around the space and through the veins of those present as Kae Tempest spoke Grace, “let me give love, receive love and be nothing but love,” and love was pouring from the poet into the crowd, and love flowed right back to them in return.
Tempest’s set, particularly the newer songs, ebbed and flowed and ventured between the past and the present, covering the journey they have been on through their transition and acknowledging the queer people who have been around since the beginning. The energy surrounding them during their performance of their latest single Statue In The Square was electric, the performance felt cathartic, a statement so masterfully executed in a way only Kae Tempest could “they never wanted people like me round here, but when I’m dead, they’ll put my statue in the square.”
Closing out the show with a breathtaking performance of Peoples Faces, Kae Tempest soaked up the cheers, the applause, the tears of the crowd, standing alongside their backing vocalists and collaborators, radiating pure light. An otherworldly, magic performance by an artist whose talents know no bounds, there is simply no one else like Kae Tempest, who is putting the world to rights with the power of their words.
Words by Angela English
