Dessa – Colours, London; May 19th, 2024

After my first Dessa show in Manchester, I was so glad I had opted for seeing her twice. I didn’t think it was possible, but this second show upped it a notch. It was a ton of fun and I loved every minute of it.

Sleeping on the night bus from Manchester didn’t make me feel well rested when I arrived, but I got there early and got a few more hours in London. I was happy I had nothing else planned for the day, so I slept late, got some good food and finally made my way to the venue which was part of a pub. Got a drink, sat down and watched more people arrive. Another fan joined me at my table and we chatted before getting in line five minutes before the doors open. I wish front row was always so easy. I looked around if I saw any familiar faces from the previous day, but didn’t spot anyone, so I chatted with the people around me, got some merch and another drink.

Begonia surprised me with a completely different outfit from the previous one and started with telling us she only had 30 minutes to play. ‘Juniper’ was her first song an I enjoyed her set just as much as in Manchester. Her singing is very particular, but also very cool. She continued with ‘Heaven’ and then told us how she distanced herself from the church when she was an awkward teenager and realized being different wasn’t going away. The song was ‘Marigold’ and I really liked it. ‘Butterfly’ was great too, my favorite of her set. I smiled at the story of ‘Hot Dog stand’ and then she ended with ‘It’s too quiet’.

Setlist

Juniper
Heaven
Marigold
Butterfly
Hot Dog Stand
It’s too quiet

We got a break as he room filled up and everyone was excited for Dessa. She kicked off the show with ‘Warsaw’ / ‘Chime’ / ‘Velodrome’ all mashed up and it was awesome. I noticed a woman to my left typing all the songs into her phone – I guess I have her to thank for the setlist I found on setlist.fm – once the song ended we all erupted into great cheers, even more so when Dessa told us she was terribly excited to be there. She explained how she had been there a lot when she worked on a programme for the BBC and how great if felt to return.

‘Decoy’ was next and someone was screaming along to the “Sorry, not sorry” line. I looked around a many people knew all the words. Wow! It became even more obvious with ‘Rome’ where I felt like I was the only person who didn’t know the lyrics. The backing vocals of Aviva and Joshua blended nicely with the ones from the crowd. Soon the song merged with ‘Call off your Ghost’ and I just enjoyed the experience of being there.

Dessa introduced us to Joshua and Aviva and then thanked Hugh, the audience member who lend them a keyboard stand, before continuing with ‘Skeleton Key’. <3 ‘Fighting Fish’ was awesome, with a great ing-along. Afterwards she declared that she could not open a can of water (?) at the same time as holding the microphone and then requested a bobby pin to keep her hair out of her face. The best thing about it was that she gave it back at the end of the show.

‘Terry Gross’ was great and the “I don’t need a drink menu, I’ll take a white wine got extra cheers. I personally love the one about having to make sure that you’re not a robot before continuing the conversation. 😀 Afterwards she talked about trying to collect as many British phrases as possible when she worked for the BBC, speaking about feeling cosmopolitan when ordering a “packet of crisps” and asking about the term for being sick. “Poorly? Americans don’t have adverbs.” There was also talk about LemSip for a sore cold. 😀 “Let’s play a tragic song,” she explained before launching into ‘Good Grief’. I loved it, especially the harmony singing.

Dessa joked that she was studying the habits of popstars, which somehow lead to talking about contact lenses and dedicating the poem ‘Acuvue’ to “my near sighted friends”. It was brilliant! The acoustic set was next so it was time to be “hella quiet”. We got the wonderful ‘Crash’ first, with Aviva on harp, which is somehow saved in my mind as “Partycrasher”. She joked about sending a rider and then having the need for harp input on there. 🙂  Then we got a lovely stripped down version of ‘Blush’ with great keyboard lines and harmonies.

“I don’t wanna go!” Dessa exclaimed and someone yelled back “don’t leave!”. She introduced us to Becky at merch and gave us news from the merch booth as in “we can’t take all that shit home on the plane – please buy some merch”. Also Beth and Joshua were looking for a place to watch a game at 1 am, but I have no idea what the team name that was or which sport. They were looking for someone with “a fancy ass sports package”. I hope they found someone.

‘I already like you was great, including Joshua on saxophone. ‘Chopper’ was the first song she had not played the previous night and it was fantastic. During ‘Shrimp’ Joshua told us that the previous night had been the first time he had played in Manchester and how crazy it was. Then someone told him “Wait till you see London” – now he wanted to know what we had and everyone around me yelled “always the bridesmaid, never an astronaut”. 😀

‘Tell me again’ brought us some more cool saxophone and everyone was clapping along. The cheering reached a whole new level after. Dessa told us how Joshua is a multi instrumentalist and what other instruments he plays and how she had a whiteboard, drawing out how he could play more than one instrument during the set.

‘Hurricane Party’ was awesome and it felt like the crowd was really warmed up now. ‘5 out of 6’ followed and while I was filming, Dessa grabbed my phone, looked down the camera and then turned it around to film the audience for a moment before she gave it back. <3 She told us how easy it is to get frustrated with the current state of the music industry and while she loves big arena acts, she feels there should be room for the weird shit too. Hell yes!

“One more emo poem and then we’ll play some more,” Dessa announced and told us to move closer before reading us  ‘How to stage dive’, including a thank you to Tobia the soundperson. I loved it even more than the previous night. Afterwards, she decided to stage dive during ‘The Bullpen’ – it worked out well and as predicted, she was delivered back to the stage when it was time.

A great version of ‘Dixion’s girl’ ended the main set and then we din’t get only one, but two encores, the first of which was the awesome ‘Fire Drill’. we cheered so loudly and so long that they returned for  ‘Jumprope’ into ‘Grade School Games’. It was the perfect ending to a perfect show. I was so happy I had decided to go and see it.

Afterwards I considered getting an autograph, but didn’t know how long the tube was running in my direction, so I left instead, deciding that it was better to get some sleep. I just will have to go back and see Dessa again.

Setlist

Warsaw / Chime / Velodrome
Decoy
Rome / Call Off Your Ghost
Skeleton Key
Fighting Fish
Terry Gross
Good Grief
Poetry Reading (‘Acuvue’)
Crash (Acoustic)
Blush (Acoustic)
I Already Like You
Chopper
Shrimp
Tell Me Again
Hurricane Party
5 Out of 6
Poetry Reading (‘How To Stage Dive’)
The Bullpen (Started but unfinished; Dessa chose to stage dive instead)
Dixon’s Girl

Fire Drills (Encore)
Jumprope / Grade School Games (Encore)