Review: Self Esteem at Newcastle 02 City Hall
On the night Newcastle United returned to the Champions League, the fiercest roar on Tyneside came not from St James’ Park but from Rebecca Lucy Taylor's devoted and joyous congregation
Newcastle 02 City Hall was transformed into something close to a place of worship on Thursday night, as Rebecca Lucy Taylor - better known as Self Esteem - brought her A Complicated Woman tour to Tyneside for the second time in as many days.
After spending Wednesday on stage at The Glasshouse, she served up her captivating gospel of empowerment, humour and cathartic pop bangers to a couple of thousand disciples who’d packed the venue on the north side of the river to the rafters.
Taylor has built a reputation as one of the UK’s most uncompromising pop artists. Across three albums she’s fused hard-edged, experimental beats with brutal honesty about misogyny, self-worth and the contradictions of modern womanhood.
What makes her stand out is the delivery: sharp, funny, furious and unflinchingly direct, with live shows that feel as much like protest and group therapy as they do pure pop spectacle.
Safe to say the pre-gig pint excitement was fizzing - and fuelled further by support act, South African funk scientist, Moonchild Sanelly. More of her later - both here and on my next playlist.
Main show proceedings were signalled by the arrival of Taylor and her performance squad in their stark, Handmaid’s Tale-style bonnets and black gowns. We were immediately in.
The opening refrains of I Do And I Don’t Care set the tone: defiant, vulnerable and communal. It wasn’t long before the assembled masses were roaring back lyrics from across all three Self Esteem albums - Prioritise Pleasure, Compliments Please and the latest, A Complicated Woman. It was less a gig than a collective release.
In fact no. That’s unfair. This was very much a storming gig… it just had communal healing baked in.
Mother and Lies hit with percussive force; there was synth-pop delight in Cheers to Me and If Not Now, It’s Soon while older anthems like Prioritise Pleasure and The 345 became full-throated chants. Moonchild Sanelly made a popular return to the spotlight for a stirring collaboration on In Plain Sight.
The camaraderie on stage was palpable – dancers, musicians and Taylor moving as one from unsettling jerking movements and crowd-rousing routines to a choral huddle and a farewell conga. Wonderful stuff.
The same energy could be felt in the crowd – these songs, with their mix of rage, wit and vulnerability, felt lived in by us all.
The venue was sweltering, but no one1 seemed to care; the heat only added to the sense of immersion. We were in this together and absolutely loving it.
In an age when headlines feel relentlessly bleak, the spectacle of thousands of people coming together to celebrate a genuine force for good felt profoundly life-affirming.
If this is sounding gushy. It’s 100% premeditated.
Self Esteem doesn’t just perform songs; she builds community, reminding her congregation to keep going, keep caring, and keep dancing through the darkness… while taking not one ounce of shit.
By the time the night closed with I Do This All The Time and Focus Is Power, Newcastle City Hall had become soaring proof that pop can still feel like salvation.
Aside from Taylor who begged for a side-stage towel at one point and compared the heat of the room to hell!