Mimi Webb Raises Temperatures with Sizzling Pop Spectacle at Leeds O2 Academy [Photos]

The first time I crossed paths with UK pop newcomer Mimi Webb was about half a mile down the road at the Stylus in Leeds, where nearly a thousand fans shoe-horned their way into a sweltering room for an equally sweltering performance.

Since then, the pop star has gone from strength to strength and, seeing the size of the queue snaking as far as the eye can see, her first headline tour in support of her new album Amelia, is an absolute hit with fans who are making sure they’re here early for this latest date on her sold-out tour.

Opening up the show in Leeds were two singer-songwriters. First up, we have Henry Moodie, who is already a hit with young fans, with his songs hitting home with the crowd given their subject matter of anxiety, young love, and drunk texts. Hitting a home run in the form of a Taylor Swift smash, “Blank Space,” this is someone who clearly knows how to get and keep a crowd onside.

Equally comfortable in front of a packed-out room was fellow singer-songwriter Blake Rose. The Aussie delivered a set of alt-pop that was equally as well-received by this crowd as Moodie before him, with the likes of “Rollerblades” and “Lost” greeted by the Mimi Webb fan club like old friends.

Barely a month or so ago, Mimi Webb was performing back at Stylus in Leeds as part of an intimate tour to launch her second album, Amelia. One of the hottest talents on the British pop scene at the moment, the Mimi Webb juggernaut, shows no signs of showing down with teen hysteria greeting the singer as she appeared at the back of the stage.

A spoken word intro, which saw Webb talking about her mental health struggles, heralded her entrance with her set opening with “Ghost of You” from that aforementioned new album. Gliding around the stage, the pop singer raises the temperature in the room by more than a few degrees as she powered through slice after slice of teen-friendly pop.

Treating the crowd to a mix of tracks from her new album and crowd pleasers like “Dumb Love” and “Halfway” from her first album, the hysteria which greeted every break and the enthusiastic singalongs left you thinking that Mimi could have just come out and sung nursery rhymes for an hour and nobody would have left disappointed.

Despite a confident, energetic performance, Webb occasionally looked surprised at the reaction that greets hers, but with a stack of songs that her fans can both relate to and sing their hearts out to, it is hard to imagine anything can derail Mimi on this one-way journey to pop stardom.

Mimi Webb (w/ Blake Rose, Henry Moodie) @ O2 Academy (Leeds, UK) on April 15, 2023

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