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Review: Self Esteem, Lloyds Amphitheatre – ‘A pop star in every sense of the word’
Warming up for Self Esteem, it’s impossible for Lynks to ignore that it’s also the final night of Glastonbury.
“F*ck Glastonbury!” they yell, and we cheer in agreement that we’d rather be on the harbour’s cobbles than the muddy Worthy Farm.
(They did later apologise, jokingly begging the Glastonbury Gods to invite them to play one day – and they should listen).
is needed now More than ever
Self Esteem (real name Rebecca Lucy Taylor) finds it hard not to mention the G word too – introducing track ‘John Elton’ with a laugh as Elton John is headlining tonight.
“It’s not a slight, it’s just a sh*t joke I used to have with one of my bandmates”, she swears.
Lynks, originally from Bristol, is a self-described “masked drag monster”
But her set is one to rival the grandeur of John’s; it takes just a few songs before she and her dancers leave for a costume change.
They swap their power suits for wholly red outfits, returning to a matching stage for the blistering new Mother – an anthem about being sick of acting like your boyfriend’s mum.
Female rage and exhaustion soar through Taylor’s performance, her oeuvre frankly tackling toxic relationships, self love (or self esteem, obviously), and everything in between.
I’m Fine is a particular highlight – the crowd share a cathartic moment as we bark and howl like dogs, yapping along to the lyrics “because there is nothing that terrifies a man more than a woman that appears completely deranged”. (I’m sure that didn’t happen at Elton John’s Glasto set).
I do this all the time is always poignant live too – her own incredible spoken-word track, Baz Luhrmann Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) style: “Getting married isn’t the biggest day of your life/ All the days that you get to have are big”. The crowd has lived through every word, and now it’s euphoric to spit them back at her.
But as well as being angry and tired, joy always prevails with Self Esteem. After almost every song she hugs her dancers, and gets teary seeing how much the lyrics mean to her fans. She’s in disbelief that so many came out to see her, and explains she was worried no one would.
Self Esteem was the closing headliner for Bristol Sounds 2023
As Taylor and her crew take their final bow, Shirely Bassey’s This Is My Life begins to play. Taylor beams as they conga off stage, and the crowd begins a huge conga line too, strangers holding each other’s shoulders and wandering into the night.
Self Esteem is a pop star in every sense of the word. Hopefully next year she’ll be the one to take the Glastonbury headline spot.
All photos: Tom Whitson
Read next:
- Self Esteem on her love of Bristol art and politics and being her authentic self
- Review: Mika, Lloyds Amphitheatre – ‘Queer joy simmered through his performance’
- Bristol music artist launches crowdfunder to record new album
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