Mimi Webb’s show at the O2 in Leeds was eagerly anticipated by over 2000 people. The pop singer’s rise has been carefully orchestrated in the last two years with great videos and a clutch of good song, as well as a steady stream of releases and carefully planned press campaigns. At just 22, Webb’s songs have had 250 million streams, putting her in an elite group of pop performers. Her name was in the frame as the UK representative for Eurovision – but she sadly lost out to Mae Muller.

By Miles Salter

Webb’s audience is overwhelmingly young and female. Some young teens in the audience were with parents, but there weren’t a lot of blokes present. The female fanaticism is touching – one girl had a cardboard sign with a drawing of Webb’s face and a declaration of love. When Webb hit the stage the air was filled with screaming.  

Performing songs from her recently released debut album Amelia, Webb had the crowd singing along to tunes such as Better Without, Red Flags and Ghost Of You. She was professional, sang well, and held the audiences attention throughout. A stand out moment was Last Train To London, a power ballad of broken love that Webb belts out with great effect.

For all this though, the show lacked any signs of spontaneity, as it was choreographed to within an inch of its life.  The pattern of the show was obviously the same for every evening – this is the moment Webb has a costume change, this is the moment the guitar player goes to the front of the stage for a solo, this is the encore where we do three songs. The ‘band’ (a drummer and guitar player) were matched by pre-programmed sequencers and backing tracks. This meant, effectively, that there was no room for deviation. 

It was seamless, but a little more creativity wouldn’t go amiss. One of the best moments of the night was when Henry Moodie, one of the two supports, asked  the audience if there were any Taylor Swift fans in the house, to huge cheers. He then played an acoustic version of Taylor Swift’s Blank Space. Webb could learn from this. It was a good show, but a full band would be a fantastic idea next time around. Mimi’s songs are great, although she needs a show that’s a bit more ‘live’.