Mae Muller opens her Leeds show in a style that would translate well to a much bigger venue. Already hyped by the excellent Cat Burns and a pre-set playlist that included Harry Styles, Britney and Dua Lipa, Muller’s band take the stage and slowly build on the anticipation.
The opening chords of Nails So Long ring out and Mae marches out in to this intimate venue and pulls the audience in from the off. The 24 year old from London has an endearingly genuine way about her, engaging with the audience throughout, chatting before each song – recounting episodes through her recent years that led to the creation of some excellent pop tracks.
To some extent, while these were fun, I felt she could have got away with a few shorter intros. The songs themselves stand up really well, the lyrics resonating with a young, largely female crowd, and Mae is on a serious trajectory off the back of 2021s Better Days (a collaboration with Swedish music collective NEIKED and rapper Polo G), and having signed to Capitol Records.
Even so, the crowd lap it up, as Mae tells us that she is “blown away” by the reaction to her first headline gig in Leeds. HFBD and a throwback to her 2nd single Jenny keep the faithful crowd in thrall. The biggest reaction possibly came for Treat People with Kindness the crowd singing back to Muller in a way that even she didn’t expect. Work Like That mixes into a segment from the 2021 Billen Ted summer anthem When You’re Out which features Mae on vocals.
The show is rounded out with last year’s massive Better Days, the song that Mae explains “changed my life in a crazy, crazy way”. It’s been a confident and charismatic performance, and one that the fans in attendance couldn’t get enough of.
SET LIST
Nails So Long
Dependent
HFBD
Jenny
Bad Thoughts
Plot Twist
Maybe
Dick
Anticlimax
Treat People With Kindness
Therapist
Work Like That – When You’re Out
Better Days
