Princess Goes w/Beija Flo, O2 Institute 2, Birmingham.

Quite some expectations here, with Michael C. Hall (better known as TV anti-hero Dexter Morgan) taking on the vocals role with his bandmates Peter Yanowitz (drums & guitar) and Matt Katz-Bohen (guitar & keyboards). Formed, initially, in 2018 under the name Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum, the trio have taken on an electronica-cum-alt rock sound which is very listenable it seems, but that will have to wait until after the opening act, Essex girl, now honorary Scouser, Beija Flo. This young woman has taken it upon herself to push herself forward as a singer, artist and woman’s health educationalist, the latter of which she talks about . . . a lot!

As someone suffering from MRKH (Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser Syndrome – go look it up if you’ve no immediate plans to see her perform) she wears her heart on her sleeve describing the problems she’s been presented with and how she has tried to circumvent them. With an outwardly happy outlook on stage, she chats with audience members about all sorts of things including MRKH (of course), cats, failed relationships, her leotard and a myriad of other subjects, some funny, some sad but all interesting to listen to . . . and in between all the chatter she finds time to sing a few songs accompanied by her faithful laptop providing backing tracks.

She has a really good voice and she shouts . . . a lot but it’s all extremely entertaining and she engages with the audience right from the start to the, all too quick, finish.

A little later on I was able to ask her what she thought about Princess Goes writing a song dedicated to her and she blushed a little bit and said it was ‘lovely’. Mind you, if Dexter Morgan is writing about you, it may not always end well!

The setlist kinda reflected some of the topics of conversation from the stage:

– I Sincerely Apologise

– Heads or Tails

– Hit Me Like A Bird Against A Window

– 2nd Hand Cock Rings

– Nudes

– Dream Baby

– Gerry’s Garden

– Waiting For The Sun

– Mary

So, from one Scouser (me) to the Honorary Scouser (Beija Flo) I say ‘well done girl’, I will see you again.

Having not seen Princess Goes previously, or even heard anything by them, I didn’t know what to expect; what I didn’t quite expect was the amount of smoke that filled the stage. The first thing I noticed when MCH came on stage was that his trainers had no laces in them. Was it outlandishly daft to suspect that there might be two bags of ‘stuff’ backstage with his laces being used as the bag ties?

Anyway, on to the tunes . . . and there were a lot of them; a 20-song setlist was going to be quite an achievement to get through.

As the set gets underway you start to see MCH more as a very good singer and less as a cool, calm and collected TV serial-killer, although at times it was quite difficult to see anything of any of the band members. One thing is for sure, he doesn’t talk too much between songs preferring, instead, to get on with the job in hand – that job being entertaining a small but willing crowd, some of whom had clearly seen him before and sporting tour shirts from previous jaunts to the UK.

The songs are firmly from the alt-rock/indie-rock shelf and crack on well without too much drama. MCH himself isn’t much of a mover or ‘dad dancer’ but hangs off the mic stand throwing out the lyrics. There were some heavier songs on the list having a pronounced bass-heavy tone, which was good, as they rocked along quite nicely and at the half-way point, or thereabouts, MCH announced the song ‘Beija’, written for, and dedicated to Beija Flo.

The band have only been together a few years so the setlist consisting of almost all self-penned songs(there was just one cover) is pretty damned good.

Matt Katz-Bohen flits between the guitar and keyboard, Peter Yanowitz punishes the drums, more often than not bathed in smoke.

The set ends at song 16, Come Talk To Me, which is followed by a faux stage-exit (i.e. it doesn’t happen) leading to a 4-song encore which included the single cover song; Cruel World by New York duo Phantogram.

I’m not going to make any comparisons with other performers, best known as actors, giving the music a crack, let’s just say that MCH made a great effort and has a very decent voice.

Setlist:

– Bombed Out Sites

– Let it Go

– Blur

– Deeper Down

– Eat an Eraser

– Jetpack

– Vicious

– Airhead

– Angela Peacock

– Beija

– Ketamine