ZUZU: LONDON, UK - 02.12.21
On the second of December, Zuzu, one of Liverpool's biggest rising superstars, was joined by Devon and SOFT LAD for an evening of dancing, tearful eyes, and catharsis at the Boston Music Room, situated in London's Tufnell Park.
The opening artist, SOFT LAD, was greeted by an attentive audience as she stepped onto the stage. Accompanied by a guitar and backing track and illuminated by vivid blue and pink lights, she introduced her opening song as "a sexy holiday she didn't get." It was an upbeat and fun song with a catchy pop melody and was undoubtedly one to dance to. It was evident from the get-go that SOFT LAD felt every beat and lyric of the song within her soul and the layered harmonious vocals present in the backing track were mesmerising. Between songs, her interaction with the crowd was charismatic, warm, and light-hearted. She mentioned that she had been on the road for five weeks, but this did not appear to affect the high levels of energy present that orbited the room as she played. Midway through her set, SOFT LAD performed to the audience her introspective debut single,' Singapore.' It began with a gentler tempo that picked up after the first verse. It perfectly encapsulates the feeling of reflecting on a past relationship one last time before moving forwards. The vocals were soft, the melody was catchy, and the lyricism was hopeful and optimistic, forming a flawless and glistening pop tune. She commenced the closing two songs of her set by revealing to the audience "two more of this gay shit from me," which brought a smile to the faces of many. The penultimate track was melancholic and dreamy, which became dramatic and goosebump-inducing towards the end. This was a juxtaposition from the closing track, which was a captivating pop banger that got the crowd up and dancing.
The next artist to take the stage was Devon, a singer-songwriter from the Forest of Dean. Devon played a stripped back and fully acoustic version of his set, which began with telling the audience that he was going to "pretend to be Phoebe Bridgers or something." He spoke of how he'd usually be dancing around the stage with a band, but this more simplistic and intimate version of his set was strikingly beautiful and very Phoebe Bridgers-esque. He opened his set with a song titled 'WARNING SIGNS,’ which was followed by 'BELONG 2 U' and 'TRUST ISSUES'. All three songs, formerly captivating high energy indie tunes, were easy-going, gentle and at times astoundingly heart-warming. As well as being blessed with this exceptional one-off acoustic performance from Devon, the audience were also incredibly fortunate to hear the title track from their forthcoming mixtape Somewhere in Nowhere Land, which, he explained, was likely never to be heard live again. The song was enchanting and ethereal with poetic lyrics such as "making friends with local animals" and "I didn't know friendship was flammable", which melted the crowd's hearts. Following his performance of the penultimate and most popular track, 'I DON’T WANT 2 BE UR FRIEND,' Devon introduced the song he would close the set with: 'STAYING HOME.' This not-so-jolly Christmas track was written about tragically losing his grandad during the coronavirus pandemic. It was released that same night, making this performance the first time the song was heard by a live audience, making it a particularly special set.
After a brief interval, Zuzu, wearing a sixties-inspired black and white floral print dress, spiralling earrings and her signature large round glasses, came bounding onto the stage to be met with an adoring crowd singing her name. She began her set with the opening track from her latest album Queensway Tunnel and the entire audience joined in as backing singers. After a short psychedelic introduction, it platforms her sound straight away: authentic, raw and unapologetically Scouse. The songs high energy present at every turn was infectious and got everyone dancing. Before commencing with the second track, ‘Beauty Queen,’ Zuzu explained that she once saw Paul McCartney live. At this show, he would play one of his songs followed by a Beatles song, and this gave Zuzu the idea of doing something similar for her own tour: playing a track from her new album followed by an older song. For the third song, 'Tell Me The Truth,' Zuzu positioned her guitar back on its stand, which freed her from the limited motion that comes hand in hand with guitar playing. She performed this song as if she were an actress on a west end stage with the passion of a thousand burning suns. The same can be said about the next track titled 'Never Again.' On surface level, the lyrics of this song would suggest it was written about a love interest however, Zuzu explained to the audience it was in fact about a friend. The sound of 250 people screaming the lyrics, "you're a piece of shit and so are all you stupid friends," was an incredibly powerful and cathartic moment for both Zuzu and the audience.
In the second half of her set, Zuzu played a track by the name of 'The Van is Evil', which centres around themes of climate change and having no choice but to use her non-environmentally friendly van to play shows. During this song, she motioned to the crowd to get down low and when the beat dropped, they simultaneously jumped up from the flooring beneath them and erupted into a dance. Before the encore, Zuzu performed a Christmas song that she had written before the pandemic titled 'Distant Christmas,' which can be best described as a sad festive bop laced with a sprinkling of hope towards the end. After returning to the stage and making a joke about encores, Zuzu began what she described as the only love song she had written, 'Endlessly Yours.' The gentle and slow instrumentation gives this song a sonically romantic feel that warmed the audience's hearts. The show's closing song and final & title track of the album, ‘Queensway Tunnel’ began with Zuzu accompanied by just her electric guitar. As the song progressed, each band member began to join back in, which built to a climactic ending that sees Zuzu disappearing into the "Queensway tunnel at Birkenhead." This song feels like the ending of a very poignant and significant chapter of ZuZu's life and therefore made for the perfect ending of a phenomenal show.
