beabadoobee, Wisp
The Woodlands Pavilion
October 16, 2026
Reviewing concerts is a pretty cool gig. I certainly take advantage of being able to see personal favorites (Rush, Dropkick Murphys, The Damned). But I also try to expand my horizons a bit.
Having teenagers helps. Thanks to my kids … let’s call it “enthusiastically leveraging” their dad’s media credentials, I’ve also checked out acts that otherwise probably wouldn’t have shown up on my radar. That’s how I became aware of Tyler, the Creator, Cigarettes After Sex, and Olivia Dean, among many others.
Those worlds collided once again this week. On Wednesday, I got to check another bucket list show off the list by covering L7’s final tour. Last night, it was beabadoobee at the Woodlands with one of my kids. And while I wasn’t unfamiliar with this particular artist (see below), it was an unexpectedly energetic show for an uncharacteristically frosty night.
Born Beatrice Laus — and hailing from the Phillippines by way of London — beabadoobee isn’t a stranger to our fair city. She opened for Olivia Rodrigo on her 2022 Sour show at 713 Music Hall, and for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour semi-residency a year later. Last night at The Woodlands was her first headlining effort, but you wouldn’t know it from the fervent response of the Pavilion crowd.
HBO did a documentary about the Miracle on Ice back in 2001 (stay with me). In it, Al Michaels talks about the goal Mike Eruzione scored in the third period to take the lead against the Soviets. He said, “That’s when sound had feel.” That gives you a good idea of how it felt when beabadoobee led off with “Sun Has Set.”
And like Rob Gordon said about the perfect mix tape (I’m nothing if not rich in useless pop culture references), you want the second song to take it up a notch. That explains the even bigger response to “10:36” (from 2022’s Beatopia). She also did a neat trick, getting the audience to sit down during the bridge, then jump up in unison. Hopefully she continues to use her powers for good.
If anything, the reception to each subsequent song was even more enthusiastic than the last. And they really didn’t ramp down until she brought out the acoustic guitar to play her first ever single, “Coffee.” It’s an innocuous enough tune, about making your special someone a cup of joe with “the right amount of sugar.”
Unsurprisingly, the set focused on Pylon, beanadoobee’s latest release. To that end, the set featured a huge electrical tower down stage right, and a light pole opposite. The lines from the tower would hum and light up between (and sometimes during) songs. And she climbed up to a platform on it to sing “Powerlines.” She also performed part of “Satellite,” one of the night’s harder rocking numbers, into a payphone beneath the light pole.
That was one of the surprising aspects of last night’s show. beabadoobee has a *lot* of slower, more downbeat songs (“Everest” and “Dance With Me” come to mind). But she and her four-piece backing band didn’t seem interested in introspection. New tunes like “Pylon” and older cuts like “Cologne” received the “rawk” treatment, courtesy especially of guitarist Jason Vance Harris and bassist Eliana Sewell.
Harris also elicited some of the biggest screams of the night during his solos. That’s why you learn guitar, folks.
“It’s a bit chilly, innit?” She remarked about halfway through. Clad in a sheer-ish long-sleeved T adorned down the front with cannabis leaves, she was probably feeling the cold a little more than her (comparatively) practically dressed bandmates. At least, she mentioned it more than once, even asking if they were still in Texas.
The set featured a few surprises, including unreleased encore number “Lemon to My Lime” and “The Road,” making its first (don’t quote me on that) tour appearance.
About halfway through the set, I realized who her voice reminded me of: Harriet Wheeler of the Sundays. It hit me during “Memories,” off the new album, that beabadoobee is what the Bristol band would’ve sounded like with a ballsier rhythm section.
The electric tower “blew up” (sent out sparks) for closing number “In Motion,” the latest from Pylon. The encore included the aforementioned lemon song (not that one), and two of her higher charting singles, “Beaches” and “the way things go.” I don’t know what the deal is with these kids and their misuse of punctuation, but whatever.
At 26, beabadoobee already has five albums, six EPs, and a bunch of singles. I get the feeling the lawn won’t be closed for her next Pavilion show. Maybe pack a sweater next time, though.
How Was The Opener? Wisp (nee Natalie Lu) were deceptively heavy. Her set drew on her (to date) only releases, Pandora (EP) and If Not Winter, opening with “Black swan” and including the likes of “Guide light” and “Serpentine.” She also played a number of non-album singles, one of which — “Once then we’ll be free” — I realized has been in my Spotify rotation for a couple years. She’s My Bloody Valentine by way of Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins, only with Hello Kitty stickers on her Squier guitar. We haven’t seen the last of her, either.
Personal Bias: Reread the first couple paragraphs.
The Crowd: Lots of young ladies underdressed for the chill. I bet the merch table moved a lot of hoodies.
Overheard In The Crowd: “How’s it going, fellow dad?”
Random Notes App Dump: “Really digging her assortment of guitar straps.”
SET LIST
Sun Has Set
10:36
Apple Cider
Radio
All I Did Was Dream of You
Take a Bite
Care
Coffee
Pylon
Pictures of Us
The Road
Memories
Glue Song
the perfect pair
Powerlines
Nothing to Prove
Write Me a Letter
Satellite
Post
It’s Alright
Talk
Switchblade
She Plays Bass
Cologne
In Motion
ENCORE
the way things go
Lemon to My Lime
Beaches
