A crisp October evening set the scene for musician Beabadoobee to grace the Oakland Arena. The Powerlines Tour showcased her fourth studio album Pylon, an indie rock record evolved beyond the ghost of her bedroom pop past.
Rising shoegaze sweetheart Wisp opened the show at 8 p.m. Born Natalie Lu, the 22-year-old performed a strikingly stylized culmination of alternative rock. Raised in the Bay Area, Lu called this “hometown show” her favorite stop on the tour.
As far as “vibe matches” go, Lu’s set was the perfect prelude for Beabadoobee’s performance.
Beatrice Laus, a Filipino-British singer, unassumingly adopted the stage name Beabadoobee almost a decade ago. She went viral in 2020 when a rapper sampled her bedroom pop track “Coffee,” and has since forged her own “bubblegrunge” genre.
Her latest album perfectly exemplifies her distinctive blend of pop rock with a dreamy retro affect.
Laus began her show at 9 p.m. with the high-energy “Sun Has Set.” Her meticulous set design included a towering pylon structure with a large screen appearing and strings of light extending delicately into the audience. Behind the band, a screen transported the audience to different atmospheres that complemented her music.
Her effectively elaborate set and pertinent lighting brought a quality of true performance to the show.
If anything could have upstaged its ingenuity, it was Beabadoobee’s charming and infectious smile. Her animated expressions accompanied by her chromatic electric guitars were the ideal instrument for her playful lyrics.
Laus played older tracks, including “10:36” and “Apple Cider,” that allured audiences along the way. After encouraging the crowd to shout the lyrics to “Care,” she transitioned into her debut song, the aforementioned “Coffee,” evoking nostalgia for the OGs.
The fervent crowd members eagerly turned their flashlights on for her songs, leaning toward the indie sound. As Laus sang “Pictures of Us,” flashlights across the venue turned bright pink as audience members covered their phones with colored paper as a charming fan project.
Laus switched seamlessly between her slow, dreamy tracks and those reliant on upbeat rock and roll instrumentals. Transitioning between songs such as “Memories” from Pylon and the 2023 hit “Glue Song,” she showcased a masterful ability of tonal adaptation.
Many tracks from Pylon clearly juxtaposed with the ethereality of her older catalog, instead focusing on heavy drums and electric guitar. Laus supported her vocals with adept guitar skills, in addition to her proficient backing band.
Her mellifluous voice serendipitously coupled with grungy guitar outros.
For “Powerlines,” Laus climbed onto the stage’s powerline structure as the lighting turned to a half-red, half-blue haze. Her bandmate’s incredible guitar solos underscored the distinct pop-rock territory her music has now entered.
She invited the audience to jump up and down during “Write me a Letter” and flaunted her vocal range with “Satellite.” Laus’s commitment to lyrical angst solidified her idiosyncratic grungy sound.
After a run of songs from Pylon, she continued her return to old favorites with “Talk” and “Cologne.”
“She Plays Bass” was arguably the standout of the night, spotlighting the audience singalong. “In Motion,” on the other hand, brought the focus back to Laus and to the sway of her hips while she worked toward the night’s conclusion.
For the encore, Beabadoobee played a beautiful acoustic version of “The Way Things Go” as the audience joined in. Her tongue-in-cheek demeanor softened the boldness of the track.
She also debuted a promisingly sprightly unreleased number, “I Didn’t Mean That,” and ended her concert with the refreshing “Beaches.”
If there was one negative to the show, it would be the minimal crowd work. Although Laus shared more of Pylon’s story before the encore, a noticeable lack of banter between songs blended them ambiguously. Her guitar-driven sound and repetitive lyrics, usually endearing, became inefficacious.
Nevertheless, the exuberant crowd at the Oakland Arena experienced a chimerical opener and a sonic treat from Laus. Beabadoobee’s aesthetic cohesion, vocal skill and charming set list thus made for a long yet stellar night.