Gig review: Self Esteem at O2 Academy, Sheffield

At the top of a small, marble staircase, Rebecca Lucy Taylor – or Self Esteem as she is better known – looks out across her sold-out crowd at the O2 Academy in Sheffield for the second time in one week. In an oversized grey suit, black turtleneck and silk gloves, she eyes the audience sternly.
By Hannah Clugston
Published 23rd Mar 2023, 15:33 BST
Self Esteem: I Tour This All Time at O2 Academy Sheffield. Picture: Scott AntcliffeSelf Esteem: I Tour This All Time at O2 Academy Sheffield. Picture: Scott Antcliffe
Self Esteem: I Tour This All Time at O2 Academy Sheffield. Picture: Scott Antcliffe

Having seen Self Esteem perform her latest album Prioritise Pleasure three times in Sheffield – first at the Leadmill and later at the Octagon – for a moment, I worry that her recent rise to fame has replaced her warmth with a perfected performance without personality. But – wonderfully – this is completely unfounded and after a second, she breaks into a smile and invites the room to breathe in and “prioritise pleasure”.

To be clear, this is still a perfected performance – with razor sharp choreography, spellbinding harmonies and carefully considered costumes (new song, Mother was a dazzling blend of all three) – it is just paired with Taylor’s down to earth humour, raw lyricism and infectious energy.

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You’d be hard pressed to find a gig where a tear-inducing ballad about break-up and disappointment is interrupted (by Taylor herself) to make an impromptu joke about Coldplay, or where the defiant lines of “I did the best that I could, babe” are gatecrashed by Sheffield Wednesday Football Club’s mascot, Ozzie Owl.

Self Esteem: I Tour This All Time at O2 Academy Sheffield. Picture: Scott AntcliffeSelf Esteem: I Tour This All Time at O2 Academy Sheffield. Picture: Scott Antcliffe
Self Esteem: I Tour This All Time at O2 Academy Sheffield. Picture: Scott Antcliffe

In under two hours, Self Esteem manages to perform nearly the entirety of Prioritise Pleasure, slipping into unreleased material and songs from first album Compliments Please without any impact on the audience’s high-octane reactions.

Hands reach skywards during “I’ll take care/ I’ll read again/ I’ll sing again/I will” in I Do This All The Time and limbs fly to chants of “I don’t know s***” in How Can I Help You. Meanwhile, more reflective lines “Remember we had it all when we were just kids” in Just Kids and “I just wanna let you know there’s a point in you” in The 345 emanate softly over rows of captivated faces.

The evening closes with Still Reigning. Its chorus of “The love you need is gentle/ The love you need is kind” wraps the audience up in a warm glow. As the band stand shoulder-to-shoulder, hand-in-hand at the front of the stage to take their final bow, the lines stand as a final directive, reminding the crowd of the kind of love they should strive towards.

Related topics:Rebecca Lucy TaylorSelf EsteemSheffield