Live Review: Yungblud, Bec Sandridge

Bec Sandridge performed a great set sans band, opening for Yungblud at the Oxford Art Factory on Tuesday night. She is an imposing presence and seemed to fill a small space, sometimes making her flowing energy seem checked and constricted.

You're A Fucking Joke was a highlight, with her personal anecdote about jumping on a plane to a guy in Scotland and reading en-route he had moved on, making the crowd wince with frustrated empathy. Her upbeat nonchalance about the incident was charming though, and who can complain when it led to such a great track. She sang High Tide, buttressing her similarity to Debbie Harry — both aesthetically and in her punchy '80s dance-rock style. Sandridge closed with I'll Never Want A BF, a catchy track about her mum's bible study group.

Yungblud came on stage screaming, "SYDNEY!!" ordered the crowd to "jump, jump, jump," and supercharged the atmosphere in seconds; the crowd enraptured and entirely in his hands. He opened with 21st Century Liability, setting the tone for the rest of the set. He leapt wildly about the stage and maintained the same high level of frenetic energy from the moment he came on to when he left.

He chatted amicably with the crowd throughout, next singing I Love You, Will You Marry Me, ("...about Northern England") conflicting the crowd a bit. Do we want to hear more of that infectious Yorkshire accent or more great tunes? Can't decide!

He stopped singing during every song to hear the crowd belt his songs back to him and they did — with vigour, signalling he's amassed a loyal crowd in Australia in a short amount of time. They knew all the words despite his new album being released only weeks ago. This visibly thrilled him and he earnestly thanked the crowd for their support. The love affair between singer and fans is not one-sided here as he seemed as delighted by them as they him.

He played a few songs from his new album, including Medication and California. Yungblud's blending of hip hop and rock and his insane charisma mark him as an obvious rising star — an inevitability that he seems to acknowledge, cheerfully mentioning he broke a guitar at Splendour, which he can't afford "yet". Despite this, he would go on to smash his guitar on a drum cymbal.

There were technical difficulties mid-set during a guitar changeover, during which Yungblud distracted the audience by submitting to their chant for him to do a shoey. He then sang Kill Somebody unaccompanied to start with, pulling attention back to the music.

He made to close with Machine Gun (Fuck The NRA), but then appeared to spontaneously add Die For The Hype at the request of a fan at the front, his guitarist and drummer expertly and fluidly working around Yungblud's unruly movements.

Yungblud seems hyper-tapped into his audience, singing songs about those of us who "never felt we fit in anywhere" (all of us), and other weighty topics like lad mentality, anxiety and gentrification. If Yungblud is the future, we are in safe (if slightly chaotic) hands.