Yeat, rave, repeat: rising star thrills at Birmingham

O2 Academy, Birmingham, 6 October

Palpable excitement floods into a sold-out O2 Academy Birmingham as a youthful crowd adorned in oversized merch and balaclavas, a fashion accessory integral to the Yeat image, start mosh pits to the pre-show playlist in the absence of an opening act. Following the release of his latest album, 2093, experimental and unconventional American-born Yeat had a lot to prove to the UK rap crowd for Eurolyfe, his highly anticipated European headline debut. As he jumps full force onto the stage, his entrance announced by a thundering bass and a flurry of smoke canons, it’s clear that Yeat has the crowd in a tight grip around his finger.

An audibly buzzing audience roars as Yeat begins with the explosive Drake collaboration ‘IDGAF’ and, as he reaches the intensely popular ‘Gët busy’ two songs later, the crowd is in total pandemonium. It doesn’t take long before it becomes strikingly clear that the audience is completely apathetic to how popular any of the tracks are, with the increasingly shirtless and evermore sweaty crowd eager to mosh, jump, and push to every offering Yeat provided.

Yeat’s energy, and that of the increasingly aggressive crowd, does not waver as he performs the hit, TikTok embraced song ‘If We Being Rëal’

Drenched in smoke canons and laser lighting fit for a rave, Yeat stomps back and forth across the stage as every shaking corner of the room chants his characteristically dark, sometimes verging on aggressive, lyrics back at him. He looks a haunting picture, his face obscured by his balaclava as Yeat bellows the lyrics to the energetic track ‘Turban’, letting out periodic screams and shouts amidst the thundering bass to an erupting crowd. His flow is unstoppable as Yeat delivers heavy, deep, autotune-drowned vocals, leaving little room to breathe as he sprints from track to track on his intensely popular album, 2022.

“I’m glad I’m not down there” says the man standing next to me in the stands as Yeat begins the next stage of his show, launching into 2093, an album where most of the rapper’s commercial successes are situated. Yeat’s energy, and that of the increasingly aggressive crowd, does not waver as he performs the hit, TikTok embraced song ‘If We Being Rëal’ before quickly following up with strikingly energetic track ‘Breathe’. By the time the latter song is over, not a drink in the pit remains un-thrown and there are bare, sweat-drenched shoulders where Eurolyfe t-shirts once stood.

Speaking to the unstoppable, almost overwhelming, pace of Eurolyfe, it is little more than 15 minutes from these hugely popular tracks before Yeat enters into the final stage of the show. Despite only dropping 2093 in February of this year, he teases the uproariously eager crowd with four songs from pending, and highly anticipated release, Lyfëstyle, due to drop later this month.  This section is by far the most energetic of Yeat’s whistle-stop tour through his albums, in part due to the ecstatic crowd but also Yeat himself who, peeking through the obscuring balaclava, seems to genuinely enjoy performing these songs as he flings himself across the stage.

If this is where Yeat’s headline debut begins, we should all be eagerly anticipating his onstage trajectory over the next few years

Ending on the huge track ‘Monëy So Big’, the strikingly short set time of Eurolyfe begins to set in, with it being only 50 minutes since Yeat sprinted onstage. As the wave of fans covered in vodka, sweat, and loose string from Amazon balaclavas begins to pour out of the venue, I’m left endlessly curious about Yeat. With little to no words spoken between songs and a masked face onstage, it speaks to his insatiable energy and dominating stage presence that Yeat is able to captivate the crowd, nonetheless.

Eurolyfe is not without flaws, with visually grating AI art lining every screen onstage and the strikingly quick jumps between some tracks, with some songs being cut off halfway through and some tracks sounding almost indistinguishable from each other, leaving transitions feeling a little awkward and rushed. Despite this, Yeat’s ability to carry a boundlessly energetic crowd through a jam-packed set, showcasing the breadth of his work and flaunting his dark, captivating stage presence, is staggering for an artist who only gained more mainstream success over the last year. If this is where Yeat’s headline debut begins, we should all be eagerly anticipating his onstage trajectory over the next few years.

★★★★