Singer and songwriter Beabadoobee, the musical pseudonym of Beatrice Kristi Laus, brought her imaginative universe of Beatopia to the Riviera Theatre this past Tuesday evening. After finding viral success with some of her more lo-fi cuts in the crevices of the internet, Beabadoobee has become a staple name in the indie music scene. You’ve more than likely at some point stumbled upon some moody teenager’s TikTok video with “Death Bed” by Powfu featuring Bea as the background music back in 2020 (along with literally every other video you’d scroll past). This song had the internet in its grasp for an admittedly annoying amount of time that I almost forgot that it was just a sample of Bea’s original song “Coffee.” Fortunately, beating this dead horse cleared a path for Beatrice’s success in the industry; although I will say “Death Bed” is just short of mediocre. Bea’s extensive library of music is worth deep-diving into, especially her latest record Beatopia.
The Riviera was already pretty much packed way before the opener, Lowertown went on. The immense hype for Beabadoobee was crystal clear; with fans already pressed up against the barricade and the main floor already at capacity, security had to redirect late arrivals to stand in the back of the venue. The lights went red as the duo known as Lowertown came on stage. Sporting a show stopping goth look, lead singer Olivia Osby confidently made the stage theirs. The sheer passion and stage presence from the band was beyond what I expected and left me with a great impression and wanting to indulge in their discography. (Which I did and thoroughly enjoyed!)
Beabadoobee has a very devoted fanbase, the front row clutching their t-shirts and records from the merch table. I love seeing artists that have such a tight-knit following; that’s when you know the music is even better. As Beatrice made her way on stage, a glitched out version of “Beatopia Cultsong” echoed throughout the room. Her fans grew even more hyped. In no time at all, the entire theater was chanting the intro “Is it me or recently time is moving slowly?” in true Beatopia cult format. This smoothly transitioned into her buzzingly electric “10:36” in which pretty much the entire room was screaming the lyrics to. Bea couldn’t help but smile at the crowd's eclectic enthusiasm for her art. Beatrice is very soft spoken, and didn’t have a lot to say for the crowd other than expressing her amazement at the crowd singing back every last word.
Her homage to early 2000’s rock is especially prominent in her previous LP, Fake It Flowers which she performed a filling amount of songs from including “Care” and my personal favorite “Yoshimi, Forest, Magdalene.” The vitality in her music and especially this song was eruptive. The build up to the distorted guitars at the end was absolutely incredible live, I could never get tired of hearing it. Bea closed out her set with two intimate solo acoustic songs, “Ripples” and her more than recognizable anthem “Coffee.” She couldn’t leave the Riviera on that note so she concluded with one more of her heavy shredding songs “Cologne” which left the crowd more than rejuvenated with her infectious music.
All photos by Andrew Lagunas
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