Live Review: Blondshell - Electric Brixton, London 12/09/2025
Blondshell takes to the stage in front of adoring fans for night two at Electric Brixton; with an open, powerfully intimate tour for her second album.
The second night of Blondshell’s London venture comes with no small amount of anticipation. I’ve not seen her since taking a chance at Wide Awake ’23, and her self-titled albums was one of the strongest debuts of the decade so far as a result. Her follow up, released back in May, appeals instantly to a younger crowd and has them on their side – singing along, knowing all the words with a mature twang – it’s a good crowd-pleaser of an indie pop gig that injects a lot of fun into the night. After all – it’s not far from Wide Awake’s home of Brockwell Park; just around the corner – a real homecoming show, of sorts. The refreshing nature of an early finish at 10 helped, but I could’ve stuck around for longer, too – especially given the power of Sabrina Teitelbaum’s vocals – which strike a chord.
First up on the stage is Westside Cowboy; Windmill Scene graduates who look overjoyed to be at such a big venue – and after performing at End of the Road earlier in the year the world is their oyster. The indie twang is appreciative – they played at Glastonbury but had the unfortunate luck of clashing with Pulp. Here; in front of a large crowd – they do wonders, the Mancunian band coining the term “Brittanicana” as the UK’s answer to “Americana” and it mostly works wonders – perfect for fans of Pavement and Guided by Voices; they fit the bill nicely. Alright Alright Alright is a high-speed tempo that has catches of punk to it; and as a warm-up act it suits the billing perfectly. Plenty have turned up early for this one – the sign of a good act in the making even if they need a few more practice runs to turn into the finished article.
Minor crowd trouble mars the start of the main set – which is stopped to check whether the audience member is okay (they were); and we’re off and running for the night with 23’s a Baby. It immediately becomes apparent we’re looking at something special. It’s introspective, an artist making sense of her messy twenties and the pressure that comes with it where you’re expected to have everything figured out at the same time as starting to understand who you are – and some people are even having kids at that age. “You killed me with your bad habits/ You killed me when you had it/ The hopelessness is always see-through/ You know that I still need you,” she sings – and the crowd are hooked; instantly – a catchy; almost nursery rhyme feel that balances out its heavy subject. As opening tracks go – it’s a belter. The fans are instantly on board, and the crowd is in full swing. Good vibes for the night left right and centre – and Blondshell has the opportunity to run through much of her hits so far.
The music is built for intimate spaces, capable of tapping into the cover of the moment – Addison Rae’s Diet Pepsi, stripping back the pop feel to it and giving it a more unique taste of an indie rock tune backed by the gentle nature of the band – everything feels small, intimate and personal like you’re getting a personal performance in a venue of 200 people or less. It helps that Blondshell isn’t afraid to be honest, open – the crowd taken her word like it’s god speaking – and in that moment, it might as well be. The older crowd hook onto the Veronica Mars reference a few tracks later – she has an almost even split from her self-titled debut and If You Asked for a Picture – and the sheering vulnerability and openness in the lyrics make it instantly relatable to just about anyone.
Second track off the new album T&A – deployed midway through the set - is opened by her declaring that she’s going to sing about tits and ass, but the title is a misnomer – it’s a powerful song about being unable to break up with an abusive boyfriend who keeps going back from a man into a boy. It’s a harsh one: “why don’t the good ones love me”, and the need to find a welcome, safe relationship that everyone deserves. The bridge – “you turned back, though / stayed mad, though / ‘cause I always go back and forth / a spinal chord” is representative of that inner tension; the struggle to balance emotional support and personal flaws in relationships, and just about everybody can relate to what Blondshell tells us on stage.
Kiss City, is of course; the closure of the main set and it’s a belter of a tune that helped make Blondshell a name for herself. It’s brash and raw, fireworks and provocative – “look me in the eye when I’m about to finish / kiss city / I think my kink is when you tell me that you think I’m pretty” – about the need to be desired and wanted; only to be left unfulfilled and asking for more. Salad too – deployed in the encore; gives off the vibes of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread or David Fincher’s Gone Girl, the poisoning of a guy’s salad in the bluntest and imagined, effective sense of justice that echoes in the sense of the audience.
It casts you on the side of the murderer, one of the most nuanced takes on sexual violence ever put to song and shows you how many people still despite evidence and the word of the victim don’t take them seriously - and there’s even shades of influence from Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads that touched on similar ground, raw and unflinching. Spiralling from bargaining to grief and revenge fantasy – it’s a powerful, grieving process that is stabbing the knife again and again in a form of murderous rage. What a way to end the set on – worthy of an encore that also included Event of a Fire, a good night was helped by all. Hopefully Blondshell doesn’t stay away from Brixton for too long; she makes the scene her own.
Photography by Connor Mason
Words by Miles Milton-Jefferies
