Stella Donnelly wows Brudenell’s adoring crowd with gorgeous vocals
Last week I had the opportunity to catch Fremantle, Western Australia idol Stella Donnelly, at the student staple Brudenell Social Club, and it was one of the best shows I’ve been to in years. Holding her material very close to my heart for its poignant, dark themes, yet presented in such a catchy, memorable way, I was excited to see tracks like Tricks and Die play out amongst the crowd. Her raw, honest album Beware of the Dogs (2019) is a personal favourite of mine, and her new album Flood (2022) soundtracked my holiday to Portugal, exploring Porto and Lisbon alongside her more matured instrumentation and song writing. She was extremely thankful for the Leeds crowd, having played at Brudenell before, and revealing she’d been spending a lot of time in the UK (mostly scrolling Depop and binging Netflix).
As she charmingly walked on stage in her permed hair and Depop clothes, she surprisingly opened with the slow burn, tragic U Owe Me, about an old, abusive boss. After the lines “You put your great ideas up your nose, then try to tell me where the fuck to go, you’re jerking off to the CCTV, while I’m pouring plastic pints of flat VB” – jokingly pausing to tell us that they drink Victoria Bitter in Australia, NOT Fosters. She also made sure to tell us the name of the pub in Perth, WA, to avoid, if we were to ever visit (hopefully I didn’t accidentally go there on my travels). Stella played the first two tracks alone, the crowd thinking it might be a very intimate gig with just the crowd and her, but after an excellent performance of Beware of the Dogs, she invited her incredibly talented band onto the stage.
Before getting into Season’s Greetings, her dark humour showed as she announced the song, about all the (paraphrasing) ‘wonderful festivities’ around Christmas, before delivering lines like “If the gravy tasted great, why did you pour it all away, you like to intimidate, intimidate…” and “my mums still a punk and you’re still shit”.
Once getting into some new material, she likened her old material to old, tatty, stained underwear with holes in it that you can’t let go of because they’re the comfiest, or your favourites, and her new material to buying a brand new G-string, still a little tight and awkward, still getting used to it, so she made us aware her performances of her newer songs may be a little rough – but they weren’t.
Before the release of Flood, Stella reconnected with herself and tapped “into creative wells she didn’t know existed. Soon songs were coming to her in a way she could not control and over the coming months, Donnelly accumulated 43 tracks”. On the album art itself for Flood, she spoke of her appreciation of the Banded Stilts as how when “seen in a crowd they create an optical illusion, but on its own it’s this singular piece of art.” A perfect way to describe each singular, personal track on the LP, whilst the whole record accumulates into something much bigger.
Flood, the title track, and perhaps my favourite track from the new LP, shares melancholic melodies with lyrics like “I’m taken out sea in the flood, when I try to dry your eyes”. The stunning track will remind of walking the streets of Porto forever. Bit sentimental – are reviews supposed to be soppy and unbiased? Anyway, I did have to wipe some tears away…
Lungs was another stirring moment of the night, with its upbeat instrumentation – she delivered a fun performance as people danced around. Next was Lunch, a fan favourite, as the audience sung in unison to “I get homesick before I go, away…”. It was a standout moment from the evening, with her immaculate delivery and stage presence.
When someone spotted Old Man on the setlist, Stella comically turned to the audience and said ‘shh, don’t spoil it!’. Old Man was the first song I ever heard from Stella, as my grandparents drove me around the mountainous landscapes of New Zealand, not realising I’d stayed in Stella’s small hometown of Fremantle just weeks before, but as soon as I heard it, I knew the album would be special. It’s perhaps still my favourite track of hers, for its nostalgic sunshine/jangle pop production, tragic song writing, yet still managing to be such an earworm of a track. It’s a perfect album opener, and exceeded expectations live.
Next on the setlist was Restricted Account, a slow and touching track with gorgeous floating melodies that the audience fell silent for. “I’ll be your lover, we’ll be together”, she sung, as the brass instruments crescendoed around her voice, before fading away gently. She continued on to another new one, Medals, with standout lines like “you’re scaring all your housemates, with all your monologuing”. Move Me was another impeccable performance from Stella and the band, my favourite line being “I’ve been throwing death stares at the doorway, waiting for a punchline to appear, you were always clumsy in a good way, now it’s turned to something we all fear”.
As she announced she’d be taking requests, our eyes noticed three blank dotted lines on the setlist, hopefully making up for worries about the absence of some of our favourite tracks. Cries of “Mechanical Bull” were heard, but most people shouted for Boys Will Be Boys and Mosquito, I shouted “Boys Will Be Boys AND Mosquito” which made Stella giggle, so that made my evening a little.
She of course, performed Boys Will Be Boys, a song about victim blaming, sexual assault, and accountability – it was a gut-wrenching moment of the night as the crowd fell silent, whilst her vocals sounded just as flawless in the small venue as they did on record. More people joined in for Mosquito, embracing the romantic nature of the track, with lines like “your name is up in lights, and baby, you deserve it, I wanna bring you cake back home from work, but you’re allergic”.
As she sings about her vibrator she pauses the track to tell a funny story about her Welsh grandmother who had no idea what one of those was… She tried to convince her it was some sort of device used to detect “the vibe of a room”, but her grandmother wasn’t convinced – however when learning the truth, was surprisingly accepting of the lyric, which everyone amusingly cheered to. Her humour that shined through the album Beware of the Dogs was even more apparent on stage, fumbling over wires and chords and chatting to herself like some sort of improv comedian. The final requested song was Underwater, a new one from her underrated LP Flood (2022). Contrasting her jokey demeanour with the emotive, piano ballad that once again, had the audience in silence, swaying to her every word, especially lines like “I take on your anger and hurt, oh mama, it’s getting worse…”
This Week – one of my favourites from Flood, not actually realising this till I heard it live, was wonderful. Once again with more brassy instrumentation, and melancholic lyrics like “and I know, not to get my hopes up, but I feel better, I feel better”. The closer to Flood, Cold, was a much more hopeful moment, with its similar sounding uplifting chords akin to Queen’s Radio Gaga. It’s a perfect album closer, with its empowering lyrics of “you’re not, big enough, for my love”, and it would’ve been a perfect closer too, but luckily, we had three fan favourites left.
As she dove into How Was Your Day, the whole audience danced and joined in with its infectious hook and slightly more fast paced rhythm. Perhaps the most fun moments of the night though, came with the last two tracks. The former was Die, which she encouraged fans to join in with her slightly choreographed dance, and even managing a handstand with a little help from one of her band members. For a song with such a gloomy title, it’s such an irresistible and snappy track.
The final track was a lot of people’s favourite – Tricks. How could such a sad song sound so fun? Stella put her all into the track, bowing out gracefully after a magnificent concert as everyone danced to the endlessly catchy chorus – “You only like me when I do my tricks for you, you wear me out like you wear that southern cross tattoo, you said I’d look much better if I dropped the attitude, leave it alone, leave it alone”
As we grabbed a setlist and waited around to meet her, whilst the queue for the merch stand grew longer and longer (which included alternative cover vinyl, and Stella’s favourite birds T-Shirts), she finally emerged from behind the door next to the stage. We got chatting about Fremantle (‘Freo’), and South Beach, where she told me she used to walk her dog – we also talked about Cicerello’s fish and chips (a famous restaurant where she’s from). She was lovely to her fans, so appreciative, sharing jokes and stories, and even filling in the blank dotted lines with the three song requests she performed in Sharpie for me. I also apologised as my flash went off not once but twice during the first few minutes of the show to which I yelled “fuck” pretty loudly – luckily, she said (paraphrasing again) “I found that so funny, because that’s the exact type of thing I’d do”.
Stella Donnelly was an absolute treat, an amazing, introspective talent amongst her flock of peers, and someone who, musically, holds a lot of sentimental value to me. It was a near perfect set, missing maybe only one or two songs I’d of liked to have seen. Get tickets for her tour here, and make sure you check out Flood.
