The very first fan queuing at Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, we’re not only dressed in Sadie Jean merch, but in Ben Ellis’s merch as well. Where most openers are newly introduced to the headliners’ fans, Ben Ellis was definitely well known for these fans..
There was not any grand entrance for Ben, as he casually walked on stage with his guitar in one hand and a plectrum between his teeth. After singing some of his songs, Ben told the audience about how he felt it was so special to be here and Amsterdam, when he is all the way from Cardiff. Then again Sadie Jean is from America, which makes Cardiff seem very close by. He told the audience that his next song is about how he often feels like he has no idea what he’s doing and about how he feels like the tiniest fish in this massive ocean. That’s how he introduced ‘No One Sleeps In Hollywood’. This song earned him a loud applause.
For Ben, this is the fourth time performing in Amsterdam. The three times before had all been at Melkweg, so he mentioned how it was interesting to him to be performing at a different venue this time around. During ‘never getting out’ fans brought out their flashlights to elevate the ambience. This is before he even played his favorite song he has ever written, which he told the fans to be ‘where she goes’. Ben had to laugh and told the audience why. There were three fans in the crowd, holding up their phone to say ‘| I | love | you |’, only the phone in the middle had turned off. Instead of the word ‘love’, he saw the fans’ wallpaper.
He continued his set, clarifying that it is in fact his job to warm the attendees up before Sadie Jean would come on stage. “Would you sing along with me?” He asked right before he started playing a cover of ‘mess it up’ by Gracie Abrams. The crowd was loud as they sang along. Ben wanted to teach the crowd his own song to sing along too, except there was no need to teach them. Most of the fans appeared to know every lyrics of ‘Does It Get Cold In California’ already.
In the middle of this song, suddenly all of the overhead lights went on. At first, Ben continued singing, but he was visibly confused. You could barely hear it through the music, but a fire alarm was going off. Ben joked it was part of the track, which it wasn’t. Everybody stayed calm, as it seemed to be a malfunctioning alarm. When it was silent again, Ben resumed singing. Only for the alarm to go off again. Finally, the alarm shut off and the overhead lights dimmed too. It all appeared to be a false alarm. Ben ended his set laughingly and took the time to sign some tokens from the front row fans.
While waiting for Sadie Jean, ‘Feather’, by Sabrina Carpenter, started playing. Fans really seemed to like this song, and even the guitarist playfully played some notes alone while preparing for the main event.
Sadie started with ‘I Tried’, followed by ‘The One That I Want (But I Don’t Know Why)’ and ‘Just Because’. After her third song, she talked about how she is a very dramatic person. Hence the dramatic title of her debut album: Early Twenties Torture. The next song Sadie was about to sing, is about falling for a friend. Sadie expressed how she’s always had an appeal to the friends to lovers/ slow burn trope. This resulted in her song ‘Slow Burn’.
After performing ‘October 25th’, during which the fans pulled out their flashlights, Sadie asked “Are you up for a challenge?” She had prepared a so-called ‘friendship dance’. Since she expected everyone to be friends by the end of the night, she wanted to teach this dance to all in the crowd. Sadie invited a fan on stage to help her teach the choreo to the crowd. She made sure everybody could do the dance by the time Sadie sang ‘Know You Forever’. After playing ‘Move On First’, it was time for a fan to decide which song Sadie would be playing next. This decision was made through a fan who picked the name of a song out of a merch totebag. The song that was picked was ‘Lights On’
Sadie played it on keys and of course, all the fans put their own lights on as well. After playing this song, Sadie spoke about how this felt like a full circle moment. She remembered very vividly the moment she first played this song in Amsterdam. It was when she was on tour with Cian Ducrot as his support. She had just recently written ‘Lights On’ and when she performed it, the whole crowd put their lights on. When she got back home, she talked about this moment nonstop for months. To be playing this song in Amsterdam again on her own headline tour, was very special to her.
She played ‘Out Of My Body’ next, on keys as well. During this ‘Time Around’ she shouted out her band. With Andrew Wholf on guitar and Travis Harwick on drums. She also said it was such a big deal, touring with drums. This is her first time touring with drums. She sang ‘Locksmith’ followed by ‘She’s Dating My Boyfriend’, ‘I Don’t Know Better’ and ‘Somebody’s Everything’. Even in the back of the room, fans were dancing through those songs and having a great night. After ‘16’, Sadie took a moment to thank the amazing opener, Ben Ellis. She ended the show with the song that made so many of her dreams come through: ‘WYD Now?’.
