23-year-old singer-songwriter Benjamin Steer only began to play the guitar while studying Economics at university. He started writing his own songs, releasing his debut single ‘Muted Colors’ in 2023. Since then, the artist has been steadily releasing more singles and EPs, the latest of which is entitled Everything Is Right Where It Needs to Be. In support of that EP, Steer embarked on ‘The Outrageously Confused Internally Optimistic Tour’, which made a stop at Amsterdam’s ANN on October 30th.
Doors to the venue opened at 19:30, with fans trickling in during the one hour they had before the artist they’d all come for would take to the stage. The show was sold out, so the club filled to the brim. As soon as the clock struck half past eight, the introductory music began to play over the speakers as Benjamin Steer and his bandmates walked on stage. During the show, Steer was joined by guitarist Luke Ashby, keyboardist Ben Cottrill, and drummer Marco Balthazard Ciocca. The four of them opened the set with the high-energy track ‘Flatline’, which made the crowd jump right away. This was followed by ‘Dog Eat Dog’, featuring Steer playing the guitar himself. Throughout the set, he’d continuously switch between playing the guitar and putting it to the side to be able to move freely across the stage and to get up close to everyone in the audience. In between ‘Dog Eat Dog’ and the next song, Steer mentioned how he loves Amsterdam and how he and his bandmates had been enjoying their time in the city doing all sorts of things such as buying souvenir T-shirts. Drummer Ciocca proudly pointed at his “I <3 Amsterdam” shirt. Steer then let the crowd know that they were here to play some songs: “some new ones, some old ones, and maybe a sexy one”, referring to the next track, ‘Trophy’.
Throughout the one-hour set, Steer added in several unreleased songs, starting with ‘Love and Hate’. He’d then perform ‘Watered Down’, a track he wrote about the difference between people who give you life and people who suck the life out of you. In between those songs, he played ‘You ’ and mentioned how he loves Dutch crowds, even though he shouldn’t say that, considering he’s partially Belgian. Belgian crowds, according to Steer, are a little less fun. Maybe it’s just that Amsterdam’s a bit crazy though, as Steer pointed out the boudoir pictures that adorned the walls of ANN. Turning the laughter down a notch, Steer continued by performing a heartfelt, acoustic version of ‘Homesick’ accompanied by Ashby playing the guitar.
As soon as Cottrill and Ciocca returned to the stage, the energy picked right back up for ‘Be My Love’. The crowd enthusiastically clapped along to the beat and sang every word to this song as well as the next few tracks. Even during the unreleased song ‘Lover, Where’d You Go’, the crowd belted out the “na na na” featured at the end. Steer then made it down towards the middle of the crowd to talk about this tour being his second one ever and him having no idea what he’s doing, but somehow making it work. In the crowd, he performed ‘Sinner’ before making it back to the stage. The show continued with ‘Miracle’, a song he wrote about someone who he, at the time, thought was a miracle, expecting it to last forever. Despite the song expressing that said miracle was fleeting, Steer pointed out that “There are so many miracles in our lives and right now, Amsterdam, you are my miracle”. In response to this beautiful message, the crowd lit up the venue with a sea of flashlights.
Near the end of the set, Steer tested out one more new song, his “greatest love song”, ‘Atmosphere’. The next song, ‘Everything Is Right Where It Needs to Be’, would usually be his ‘last’ song before the encore, but since there was no backstage, they just had to pretend. Steer stated how he wrote this track about being in his 20s and living in a messed-up world, hardly knowing what’s going on. He told the audience that he wants these shows and his music to feel like “everything is right where it needs to be”. The ‘encore’ that night consisted of ‘No One Wants to Die Alone’, a perfectly relatable track to end the show on.
