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Prem Dosanjh shares his thoughts on Faye Webster’s latest gig in Leeds.
Self-described as being “far away” from her home of Atlanta, Faye Webster took to the stage at Brudenell Social Club’s community room for a night of atmospheric Indie-Folk. Her post-pandemic return to Leeds was quietly triumphant, with an enthusiastic crowd who enjoyed a great performance from both Webster and from support, Hannah Jadagu.
Hannah Jagadu’s bedroom pop set was the perfect warm up for a crowd who thankfully didn’t gift her the disengaged, half watching, half on their phone, treatment that too many support acts unfortunately receive. Her standout tracks included All My Time Is Wasted and Think Too Much. The first of which had a slightly more rock influenced instrumental that blended with Hannah’s soft melodic vocals, while All My Time Is Wasted mixes high energy indie guitar with the intense calm of Jagadu’s vocals.
With the crowd suitably warmed up, Faye and her band then took to the stage. Webster jumped straight into her set, with no gimmicks other than a short little hello. Her intensely calm stage presence commanded the crowd, and the focus was simply on her music. Crowd sing along standouts include Kingston, In A Good Way and Right Side of My Neck, all of which have had recent success on social media platform: TikTok. During pre-show chatter I over-heard members of the crowd discussing this recent attention and contemplating whether this might have any bearing on the demographic and atmosphere of the crowd. Yet unlike recent concerts of artists like Steve Lacey who have also had musical success on TikTok, the crowd sustained a genuine engagement and respect throughout all of the intimate set.
Slower songs like Jonny had the audience captivated and the room was completely silent and taking in the full effect of Webster’s emotive performance. The crowd was silently led by Webster and seemed to automatically know when to be silent and when to sing along, speaking to Webster and her bands stage presence and music.
The overall atmosphere was a relaxed and joyous one with the crowd showing intense support and praise for Faye. In moments of heavy applause, a humble Webster almost seemed taken aback by the enthusiasm of the crowd, giving multiple little bows as if to say, ‘okay you can stop now’. Her audience interactions were also great, the highlight being her taking someone’s BeReal. Likely one of the most relaxing concerts I’ve ever been too, with minimal queues and a refreshing lack of desperation to get to the front.
The concert also gets the seal of approval from my parents (shoutout to Brudenell for getting them in), the truest measure of a good concert.
Words: Prem Dosanjh.
Photo Credit: Prem Dosanjh.