Blondshell last played Manchester a little over a year ago when she played at YES back in May 2023. This time her arrival into our Northern city has provided a venue upgrade, Band on the Wall, as the demand on fans wanting to see the LA singer has seen a huge surge over the past year. The reason for her climb in popularity could be due to Blondshell, real name Sabrina Teitelbaum, has since released her self-titled album in October 2023 and has grown a huge fanbase including Barack Obama who featured her track 'Joiner' on his Favourite Music of 2023. I was really excited for this gig, I love Blondshell’s latest single ‘Docket (ft. Bully)’ and she had just received great coverage at her first Glastonbury performance on the Sunday before she played at Manchester (Blondshell performed at the Woodsies stage where her performance is available on iPlayer). I also really love Band on the Wall as a venue, it’s small enough to feel intimate but also big enough to not be crushed even when the gig is sold out. So, I was set for a great Monday night. The gig started with the band walking out on stage to the Sister Sledge song ‘Pretty Baby’.
Soon the lights dimmed, and the track slowed into a low distorted sound. The band started to join in with the song until it came to a huge crescendo of the drums and the low guitar riff to ‘Veronica Mars’ started to play. Blondshell herself then walked out onto the stage to huge cheers as she sang her first song. It was a cool way to start her set and I loved the blend from Sister Sledge to Blondshell’s crooning “Veronica Maaaars”. Teitelbaum whirled around on stage singing, stomping to her songs as the heavy guitar riffs, deep bass and the clashing drums played around her. I would describe her sound as a guitar, grunge rock vibe that seems reminiscent of the 90’s. Her voice is smooth and delicate with her American twang, often she sings in a deep tone but in songs such as ‘Dangerous’ her vocals carry the whole room with its wide range and her gorgeous sound. That particular song really captivated the whole audience as there were no drums and minimal bass and guitars, so Teitelbaum really took centre stage with delivering such a delicate song to the crowd. Many of her songs have lots of lyrics about being in toxic relationships such as the following on track Olympus:
“I’d still kill for you/ I’d die to spend a night at your belonging/ All my friends think I’ve lost it”
Also, one of my favourite tracks on the topic of toxic relationships is 'Sepsis' where Blondshell rages:
“And I believe in getting saved/ not by Jesus’ validation/ In some dudes gaze”
She also talks about addiction in her songs, the track ‘Sober Together’ is all about a friend relapsing:
“We got sober together/ but you’ve been going back/ And I can’t blame you, it’s in the blood”.
I think having such powerful lyrics and ones that fans can chant back at her make it feel such a great gig. My favourite lyrics that fans love to shout are the risqué frank lyrics on 'Kiss City' “Just look me in the eye when I’m about to finish… I think my kink is when you tell me that you think I’m pretty”.
Teitelbaum isn’t afraid of writing about how she’s feeling and sharing it.
My only slight grumble with the whole performance was Blondshell’s lack of information between songs. I’m not expecting an Adele style of asking an audience where they are from or a comedic flurry of conversation to keep the crowd engaged, I just wanted to know what certain tracks are called or what they mean. Blondshell and her band kept playing tune after tune and it was only after she played a new song she said “thank you for letting us play a new one” with no further dialogue to support it. I don’t expect her to speak before every track but at least give me a little something. She did at one point tell fans she was recording a new album but again no further information was given.
It was when she announced, “We’re going to play you a cover” and went on to play the cover without confirming who was the original band or what song it was (luckily, she’d played the same cover at Glastonbury so I could confirm it was ‘Jane Says’ from Jane’s Addiction) that I really started to let it bother me. Maybe I should have just enjoyed the music, but it was in my mind that if I hadn’t of listened to Blondshell before or watched her set at Glastonbury I wouldn’t have known what tracks I enjoyed when watching the performance. Pulling back from my maybe slightly millennial gripe of having some conversation from Blondshell and her band, where she lacked interaction, her stage presence and talent certainly made up for it as she delivered an hour of her music catalogue with flawless vocals, great guitar sounds and personal lyrics that resonated with fans. It reminded me being a teen again full of angst and love of rock music.
She finished her set with fan favourite 'Salad', a song about poisoning a guy’s salad after he hurt her friend, it’s a deep song to finish with but the distorted guitar and raging chorus and not to mention the catchy outro for fans to sing with her, altogether made it a great end to the evening.
So there you have it, an evening with Blondshell. Go listen to their songs and make sure to follow us below to keep up to date with events, new music and all round good fun.
As always, see you at the front!
Blondshell - Instagram
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