Review: Dirty Hit Tour at The Joiners, Southampton

The Dirty Hit Tour stopped off at The Joiners for a highly demanded show- being sold out weeks before! The anticipation of this show could be seen by the many fans who had been queuing outside of the venue (in the freezing cold!) for almost five hours before it was due to start!

So not surprisingly the venue was already packed by the time we had arrived, which I hadn’t yet experienced from this venue, as I’ve found there is normally quite a bit of space until later in the evening. Whilst it seemed from speaking to people that most people were attending to see Beabadoobee, the crowd for Oscar Lang was like no other I have seen at The Joiners before.

Lang played quite a lot of new music, which normally means the audience is less interactive, but through his stage presence, crowd interaction and ‘bopping about’, he got everyone dancing straight away. The band all seemed to be having the time of their life, joking around and dancing, making the atmosphere a cheery place for everyone. A highlight of his set (and the night) was definitely when he played ‘Underwater Trees’, mainly due to it being a crowd favourite with everyone singing along, but also due to Lang getting everyone to crouch down and jump up together towards the end of the song. This made the crowd become more familiar with each other, and was such a fun experience for everyone.

Whilst the wait time in-between the three acts was slightly too long, as people were becoming agitated in the cramped space, the songs played were cleverly chosen to be well known amongst the crowd. Some examples include ‘Love Me’ by The 1975 (also signed to Dirty Hit), ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ by Panic! at the Disco, and ‘This Charming Man’ by The Smiths. All these cheeky classics were appreciated by the majority of the crowd, and the nostalgia seemed to make everyone feel more comfortable around each other.

Next up was No Rome, who began his set with a personal favourite of mine, ‘Do It Again’. The set up of the stage and transitions between songs were very polished, showing how Rome as an artist has developed. Despite coming across as rather shy whilst speaking to the crowd, his energy and passion during songs was mesmerising. During the more upbeat songs, such as ‘Saint Laurent’ and ‘Cashmoney’, the floor of the venue literally shook from the intense dancing of the crowd. This paired with the heavy bass vibrations running through the floor made the set unforgettable, making it my favourite out of the three!

Beabadoobee ended the evening with a set filled with all of her best-known songs, meaning the crowd were constantly singing along. Opening with ‘Are You Sure’, she continued to play a lot of the new EP Space Cadet, which sounded even better live. However, the most memorable moment of her set was the performance of ‘Coffee’, a much older song from 2017. The golden lighting and acoustic guitar, mixed with the crowd swaying and chanting along made it feel very intimate.

The set up of the stage was very unique, with Bea placed to the far left, Louis on drums being in the middle and Eliana, the bassist, being far right. It seemed strange to begin with, but meant that you could actually see each of the artists, which was nice, as usually the drummer is blocked and the focus is all on the singer. Eliana’s impressive bass playing during ‘She Plays Bass’ left people in awe of her talent, making it hard to look away. At the end of the set, Bea and her band left the stage, but with the lights and music remaining off, the crowd started chanting for an expected encore, for the lights to just to come back on after around five minutes, which was quite disappointing and left fans rather confused.

The gig as a whole was incredible, with the mix of the insanely talented three artists showcasing a different aspect of the indie genre, creating a wonderful balance of performances. This show is definitely not one to miss, so I would highly recommend going along to one!

Tickets for the rest of the tour can be found here.