Live Review: Scene Queen – Bimbos Beans & Toast Tour – O2 Academy Islington, London

TikTok has had a massive impact on the music industry as a whole and one artist who really found her footing through the platform is Scene Queen. Her highly rebellious and aggressive music that tackles major issues women and LGBTQ people face on a day-to-day basis was bound to be a success, and her catchy choruses going viral on the platform certainly helped speed that along. Her return to the UK has been highly anticipated so we went down to night one of a two-night residency at London’s Islington Academy to see what made her the Scene Queen.

Opening the night was the highly energetic Delilah Bon who had the early crowd moving in a matter of seconds. Her rambunctious rebellion music was a beautiful fit for the show and with extremely to-the-point lyrics and a clear message being portrayed, the room danced and sang in unison. It’s not every day a rock show uses a bubble machine however, this kind of out-the-box thinking is what made Delilah’s set so memorable. From the moment she hit the stage till the very last note, both the band and fans seemed to all be on the same wavelength which made the energy in the room spectacular.

Maybe an unconventional choice for a Scene Queen gig but Pop Punk outfit, In Her Own Words, would take to the stage next. Decent energy and very easy to listen to songs helped to win over parts of the crowd but something just didn’t quite hit here. I think the overall vibe was a bit off as the band themselves really didn’t have the same oomph or stage presence as Delilah Bon. This made the atmosphere go from pure feral chaos to a more mellow and content vibe. Maybe switching the two supports around would have made more sense here.

Nevertheless, Scene Queen would take to the stage and the room quickly exploded into pink chaos. Opening with an onslaught of ‘Pink Whitney’, ‘Pink Paper’, and ‘Pink Bubblegum’, Scene Queen quickly made it clear why she was growing at such a rapid rate. The sold-out venue seemed to take it up a notch as ‘18+’ dropped. Powerful messages wrapped in heavy yet somewhat comical music are a recipe for success and this proved that.

Her latest single ‘Pink Push-Up Bra’ got the pit moving while the Scene Queen anthem that is ‘Pink Hotel’ had arguably the loudest sing-a-long moment of the entire night. Unreleased country esc track ‘MILF’ went down surprisingly well as Sceen Queen vowed to take the country back from the Republicans. Energy levels were still high and ‘Pink Barbie Bandaid’ only helped to keep it that way. Joey Fleming from In Her Own Words would play Ken for ‘Barbie And Ken’ before Scene Queen finished off her set with ‘Pink Rover’ to all-out chaos. No show is over without an encore these days and Scene Queen didn’t disappoint as a stellar rendition of ‘Pink Panther’ closed out the night.

The name Scene Queen is more than just an artist’s stage name. With performances like this, you can clearly see she is at the very top of her scene and with her legion of highly devoted fans she certainly may be becoming royalty within the alternative music scene. London seemed to love every moment of her show and it felt like a homecoming for her.