What a year it’s been for Maisie Peters since she released her breakthrough Sad Girl Summer and hit our radar and reached the wider world. As she closed out her latest tour with a stop at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, the future is looking bright too.

Review By Graeme Smith

Photos by Ruth Hunter and Graeme Smith

The tour was in celebration of her debut album You Signed Up For This, released on Ed Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man Records, which had just hit number two in the UK album charts. Ed’s not the only tastemaker to have cottoned onto Maisie’s talent and appeal. Having rose to fame through YouTube, she signed to Atlantic Records and released two EPs. Her music has featured on ITV’s Love Island and Maisie herself has made an appearance alongside James Bay on Late Late With James Cordon over in the USA.

But perhaps most importantly, the fans have connected with her brand of sad girl pop. It’s a brand she’s fully leaned into and during her set she openly bantered with the audience about break-ups, singledom and being unlucky in love. This wasn’t in a “woe-is-me” way though. Her message was clear: there is power in being your own person.

And for the fans’ part, they loved every minute. I’ve never seen an audience so excited to be seeing a musician. They sang every word back to her during performances of hits such as Sad Girl Summer, Psycho, and Brooklyn. Maisie was loving it too, dancing across the stage and striking poses. She made everything look so effortless.

For an artist who first emerged as a one woman and her guitar though, there was time for moments of quiet too. And I really mean quiet. During her acoustic solo moments, bar orders had to be whispered and every person in the packed out Brudenell kept a respectful silence.

By the time Maisie returned to the stage for her encore, a rendition of her track from her new album John Hughes Movie, it was clear that she was headed for bigger things. The fans will be able to look back at her show at the Brudenell as an “I was there” moment when Maisie is selling out arenas very soon.

Maisie Peters played at the Brudenell Social Club, Leeds on Friday 3 September 2021.