Bacchanalia Magazine

by Kyle Roczniak

Buzzing from an energy-filled set from DJ JJESS, a sold-out crowd’s roars enveloped Manchester’s O2 Ritz as the genre-defying PinkPantheress took to the stage. To sell out a venue of this stature at just 22-years-old is an accolade regardless of your musical opinions, but the achievement really does show in her sound. Garnering attention from short sample-led snippets posted to TikTok a few years back, PinkPantheress went on to release debut album Heaven Knows, selling out a multi-date tour in accompaniment.

Her second show on her run of the UK, the MOBO award-winning singer (real name Vicky Beverly Walker) was met with nothing but rapturous applause as she burst into fan-favourite Break It Off. “One day I just wanna hear you say – I like you. What’s stopping you?” screamed the crowd, accompanied by Walker’s undeniably talented band. Going into this show I expected backing tracks and a karaoke style show, reminiscent of Ian Brown’s recent style. However it surprised me to hear how well PinkPantheress’ tracks translated to a live band setup, with huge punchy bass sounds, a slick acoustic drum setup, and spacey guitar shreds.

The structure of the show was split into acts, with brief, narrated intermissions between every few tracks. This only added to the excitement as Vicky returned to the stage to warm cheers and applause.  

The first night of the Capable Of Love tour in Dublin saw a fan’s prosthetic leg (yes you read that right) end up on stage to be signed by Vicky. While not as extreme, a bunched up brazil flag and fan art found their way onto the well-designed stage, and made for unique talking points for PinkPantheress. Fan favourite Boy’s a Liar Pt.2 (after being interrupted for PinkPantheress to take a fan’s bereal, and laugh at her shoddy work – ‘that was shite!’) needed no introduction, with the crowd screaming every word to NYC rapper Ice Spice’s verse, following TikTok fame.

If this brief rundown of the show has taught you anything, it should be that PinkPantheress has made enough of a name for herself to be taken seriously as an artist and not just a DIY, TikTok-viral producer and singer. The night was overwhelmingly chaotic and loud, but there was a shared love between fans for PinkPantheress – everyone cared for her and the music she was putting out, everyone let their hair down, and had a good, vastly long-awaited singalong to their favourite tunes.

Photography by Kyle Roczniak.