Self Esteem | Moonchild Sanelly
Manchester Academy
27th September 2025

Self Esteem arrives in Manchester for the first of three nights on her sold out UK tour celebrating A Complicated Woman.

I’d been looking forward to tonight since buying tickets back in March for my better half and myself. Both fans for some time, we’d enjoyed Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s previous visit to our city in 2023 and weren’t going to miss this, even though, at that point only a couple of tracks from this year’s contender for 2025 Album of The Year had been released.

Since A Complicated Woman was released in late April and seeing Self Esteem’s performances broadcast from Radio 1’s Big Weekend and Glastonbury, the anticipation has only grown. Upon entering the Academy tonight, it seems we’re not the only ones feeling this way.

Arriving shortly before tonight’s support, Moonchild Sanelly, takes to the stage, there is a buzz in the air. The venue is probably already over 50% full. South African Sanelly, accompanied by her DJ/Dancer Ashwin (rocking a shocking pink combo of t-shirt and Lycra shorts) gets a well-deserved enthusiastic reception. I’m only familiar with a couple of her tracks – one of which being a collaboration with the headliner – however I am in the minority as many are singing along and joining in with To Kill a Single Girl (Tequila) and Big Man. The perfect opener, setting the tone for the evening and getting everyone in the right mood.

As the time approaches for Self Esteem it’s interesting that there’s not really any music played between acts, meaning that the excitement is palpable and builds as people chatter. Shortly after 9pm the stage is plunged into darkness as the first notes of I Do And I Don’t Care land and the main act’s ensemble appear through the shadows, taking positions as Taylor is greeted with rapturous applause.

This isn’t a ‘gig’. As with previous tours and performances, much of what we get is choreographed, and fantastically so. Although the focus is ultimately on Taylor, her troupe are an integral part… much more than backing singers or dancers. There’s so much going on on the stage it’s a joy to watch, especially the interactions between them all over the next 70-80 minutes.

The A Complicated Woman performances have been designed with a theatre-type structure, in different Acts, comprising songs from the current album and 2021’s Prioritise Pleasure. It’s interesting (to me at least) that the running order of the album doesn’t mimic that of the live show, as the powerful beat-driven opening quartet of I Do and I Don’t’ Care, Mother, Lies and 69 work so well together. While crowd interaction throughout is kept to a minimum, a single ‘Y’alright?’ however from Taylor, following the more subdued and reflective Logic Bitch, is greeted by cheers from the audience. We are more than alright.

The stage set up for the show is pretty minimal, meaning that lighting needs to be on point. This is used to great effect for Prioritise Pleasure, which sees the ensemble performing closely together, casting long silhouettes over the plain backdrop. Unlike a ‘normal’ night where people may be traipsing off to the loo or the bar, certainly around where we were standing, in the front third of the venue, there was none of that. Instead, there was plenty of audience participation, dancing and arms in the air… almost deafening for a euphoric Fucking Wizardry and The Curse. The latter is introduced as ‘real music’ with Taylor on acoustic guitar, and it clearly resonates with many of the 2000-plus crowd almost in communal therapy as we join in. Lines such as ‘If I’m sober or drunk, It’s still me in the middle of the problem’ and ‘I wouldn’t do it if it didn’t fucking work’ are belted out with spectacular gusto.

Having Moonchild Sanelly as support guarantees her reappearance for In Plain Sight. After Taylor’s opening verses, she steps back as Sanelly appears and takes centre-stage for what’s one of the highpoints of the album and the night, the audience almost silent until the questioning ‘What the fuck you want from me?’. The 345, featuring one of Taylor’s best vocal performances of the night has her and the troupe performing in a huddle. Whilst cutting out the audience it feels earnt, a very intimate and well deserved moment for them as the night approaches its climax.

My favourite track on the latest album has been Cheers For Me. It’s party time as it’s announced, as anyone who has seen Self Esteem this year on tour or on TV will know it’s one of the high points of the set, complete with inflatables. Tonight doesn’t disappoint as everyone is moving, singing and celebrating the moment. As it finishes the crowd erupts, it’s not the end of the set but the response to that track is something else. I don’t know if this has happened on other nights, but Taylor and all on stage seem momentarily taken aback by the response.

Although not appearing on stage, the penultimate track of the main set, It’s Not Now, It’s Soon offers the chance for the voice of Accrington’s finest and a good friend of Taylor, Julie Hesmondhalgh, to ring out across the Academy reminding us ‘Something will happen, because it’s got to. It’s not just perseverance we need, it’s patience’.

If anyone is unaware of Self Esteem, or needs something to encapsulate the power and emotion in a short blast, I’d point them to the stunning performance of The Deep Blue Okay captured for posterity on BBC’s Later… It’s introduced it as “the last song” with air quotes as we all know that the evening wouldn’t be complete with a couple of other numbers. This evening’s performance lives up to that TV performance, with everyone on stage giving their all and enjoying every moment of it, as we are watching and singing along before another ear-splitting round of applause sees the stage empty and lights dim.

Taylor reappears, alone initially, almost conversationally revealing ‘Old habits die for a couple of weeks, And then I start doing them again’. It takes a second or two before a high number of the audience join in with her on, I Do This All The Time. By this point the posse and band are back on stage too, providing accompaniment to a crowd enjoying a cathartic experience.

Focus Is Power, the first single from the album, and second track on A Complicated Woman closes the show. It feels that it’s found it’s home; a coda to an exceptional emotional evening. As the performers take a final bow, accepting cheers and applause from those in attendance, they form a conga line and exit the stage to Shirley Bassey’s This Is My Life (La Vita)… the lights don’t come on in the venue, as we shuffle to the doors and out into the Manchester rain, the sound of the iconic Welsh chanteuse ringing in our ears.

The Academy can often be a soulless venue, not benefiting from the warmth of the likes of the Albert Hall or history of the Apollo, but tonight it has felt relatively intimate and the right setting.

There is no doubt that Self Esteem is a bona fide star – selling out three consecutive nights is testament to that – yet she still feels slightly unknown. Despite numerous TV appearances, theatre productions and Sunday supplement features, even after being in the industry for nearly two decades, Rebecca Lucy Taylor feels, inexplicably, like a secret hiding in plain sight.  With runs in Bristol and London beginning in early October, followed by shows in Brighton and Sheffield, I’d suggest it’s one show people won’t want to miss…

A Complicated Woman is already my album of the year; this may just be gig of the year too…

 

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All words by Iain Key. See his author profile here or find him via his LinkTree

All photos by Mike Gray, see his author profile here