Girl Scout

Girl Scout kicked off their UK tour with a bright set at The Waterfront, with support from fantastic local talent, Arthur Black.

Arthur started off their set by kicking off their large platform shoes, declaring a need to get more comfortable on the Waterfront stage. The artist told the audience that she had played the downstairs stage in the venue before Christmas, and that playing upstairs was a lot of fun, exploring the different opportunities venues give their acts in Norwich. As I always find with the upstairs at the Adrian Flux, the support for the opening act was immense, although Arthur did not need to fight for their attention at all. From the very first note plucked on their turquoise guitar, the room listened. Arthur’s intimate songwriting was potent and haunting in its breadth of emotion. I was familiar with the artist’s raw, acoustic recordings posted to her Instagram account, but watching the songs take on more depth in person was mesmerising.

‘Garnet’, a fairly new song from the artist, used the rich tone of the guitar to ground Arthur’s lofty vocals. ‘You made me feel insane for wanting what you offered’ was a line that gutted me; Arthur’s ability to draw on the smallest of interactions and moments, the colour of someone’s eyes and the desire to live in their gaze, reminds me of the melancholic reflections of Arlo Parks’ lyricism. In many ways, I found Arthur’s presence and style incomparable; her youth, depth of passion and acute awareness of life’s most delicate moments made me unable to place her in the context of artists I am familiar with. Playing out with a new song, ‘Renaissance’, set for release on 10th March, Arthur told the audience how she recorded the track with her full band, who would be joining her once more for her release show in April at Voodoo Daddies Showroom. The musician joked that we should imagine the band were there, playing with her in spirit, ‘like the ABBA holograms!’ I’d love to see how Arthur works alongside her band, and how they uplift the magic that already exists amongst her songs, particularly in a venue as intimate as Voodoo Daddies.
Coming in with attitude, Girl Scout started their set with their backs turned, crashing into a loud and energetic intro. Frontwoman Emma Jansson was ready and raring to start the tour off with the highest of energy, taunting the crowd with shouts of ‘you can do better than that’ when she asked how we were doing. Although the band were visiting from Sweden, they never announced this fact, which I respected; they were no visitors, owning the stage and riling up the crowd as if they were true locals. ‘Honey’ saw some decent movement in the crowd under green and pink swirling lights, and this movement picked up on stage too after the second song, where Emma put down her guitar to let loose a little more. The band’s presence was great, living off the high of this first night of tour, and by the time the group launched into their classic, ‘All the Time Everywhere’, I could tell they were truly in their element.
Midway through the energised set, the band opted to take things down a notch, playing their 2023 track ‘Bruises’. ‘No one makes power ballads these days,’ Emma exclaimed, ‘but we do!’ The band clearly had a lot of joy both composing and playing this track live, in keeping with the ballad formula, with the addition of drums after the first chorus to lift the second verse drawing grins on each of the band members’ faces. Emma played off the audience really well too, opting for a lot of ‘raise your hand’ questions, which provided a great insight into the Norwich crowd. Introducing ‘Mother and Fathers’, Emma explained how she usually dedicates the track to divorcees and children of divorce, but a show of hands saw less of Emma’s target audience in the crowd than she’d have hoped. This trend repeated with ‘Boy in Blue’, with only three audience members admitting to having had a ‘deadbeat boyfriend’. ‘Maybe I should move to Norwich,’ Emma laughed, ‘nothing bad has ever happened to you guys!’

Fan favourites ‘I Just Needed You To Know’ and ‘Do You Remember Sally Moore?’ helped round off the set, despite some stopping and starting due to a string breaking. Emma admitted they’d had a few technical difficulties in recent shows, including an occasion where the power went out entirely, right after announcing that they were going to play a new song for the first time, so we counted ourselves lucky that the group were given a proper outro. A final show of hands revealed that a lot of the crowd were new to Girl Scout. If the crowd were new to Girl Scout’s music, Emma’s pondering of ‘why did you buy a ticket then?’ was left ringing in my ears. Girl Scout fervour is rife in Norwich, and what a way to kick off their February tour.