Scene Queen (w/ Delilah Bon & In Her Own Words) Turns Leeds Stylus a Bright Shade of Pink [Show Review]

Delilah Bon is an artist you need to hear. She delivers important messages in an engaging and entertaining way. She already has a lot of fans here which is fantastic to see, and she undoubtedly made a whole lot more by the end of her set.

With her two wonderful cohorts, Hela and Ruena, they dominate the stage and just look like they’re having the most fun possible. You may recognize Delilah as Lauren from Hands Off Gretel, who are a fantastic band in their own right, but with her alter-ego Delilah she has found her audience.

“War on Women,” “I Wish a Bitch Would” and the brilliant Eminem re-work “Godzilla” all stood out as highlights, but it was “Dead Men Don’t Rape” that got the biggest reaction. Lyrically and musically on point, they are hands down the highlight of the night.

In Her Own Words stood out like a sore thumb. They didn’t fit in between Delilah Bon’s energetic and angry feminism and Scene Queen’s day-glo Bimbocore – and ultimately I don’t think they connected well with the audience relying on shout-outs to the headliner to get a reaction. They’re not a bad band, they were just on the wrong bill.

From opening for Wargasm in this same venue to now headlining it, completely sold out, within 12 months it seems Scene Queen is on a rising path. With a stage set straight from a doll’s house and a bunch of songs with Pink in the title (9 of 12), she comes across (completely intentionally) as ASBO Barbie.

Musically it’s great, with crunching riffs heavy breakdowns and bagful’s of energy. She has a great connection with her fans and makes self-deprecating jokes all night. Everyone in the Stylus was enjoying the shit out of it, and there were plenty of crowd-surfers making the pit security work hard for their money. This is metal but not as you’d know it – and that’s the point.

A genuinely nice, wholesome moment came when she welcomed 3 of her fans into the fictional Bimbo Beta Pi sorority – and creating a safe space for anybody and everybody to enjoy themselves is a wonderful thing.

Ultimately, although enjoyable, it seems clear that Bimbocore is probably not for me. Delilah Bon, however, most certainly is and hopefully, she will follow the same trajectory as Scene Queen and be headlining here very, very soon.

For more information on Scene Queen, check her out on her official Instagram page.

Scene Queen (w/ In Her Own Words, Delilah Bon) @ Stylus (Leeds, UK) on October 3rd, 2023

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