It’s the hottest day of the year so far in London and actually sunny for once. While everyone else is outside at a beer garden, we’re at The Dome in Tufnell Park, north London, waiting patiently for Kelsy Karter & The Heroines to come on stage.

It’s the last night of a tour that has taken The Heroines all around the USA and across Europe, ending with 10 dates in the UK. They’ve been on their ‘Lightning In A Bottle’ tour for several months, celebrating their new album ‘Love Made Me Do It’. After an issue with US visas last year, meaning that the full band couldn’t perform together on their 2024 tour, the 

The show was opened by supporting act Knife Bride, a metal and nu gothika band from Brighton. Their heavy, thrashing tracks, including new song ‘Worthy’, set the tone for the night, and after they step off stage the crowd is buzzing and fully prepared for carnage.

The band started the show off with ‘Are You Entertained?’ (the opening track of their second album) ‘I Get Off’ and ‘Painkiller’. The set list is mainly songs from their new album, and tonight is the first time most of the fans here will have heard them live. The crowd know every word, singing along in perfect timing to ‘God Knows I’ve Tried’ and ‘Laser To The Heart’.

When we get to ‘Hotel Flamingo’, Karter introduces the song by talking about how people don’t often talk about ‘the love between strangers’, and by the end of the song the crowd are almost chanting the final lyrics; ‘We’ve got nothing to lose / So we take a chance / And we found someone to use / For a final dance / It always ends like this / A stranger’s kiss’. 

Drummer Sebastian Boyse and bassist Tommy Gent leave the stage for the next few tracks, and we get to see Kelsy Karter and guitarist Matt Peach in the spotlight. They perform ‘Wild’ and a gender-swapped cover of ‘Holding Out For A Hero’ and then ‘Superdream’, a thrilling, passionate love song which Karter wrote about her partner, who’s also a rockstar. 

The full band are now back, and the energy remains high with ‘Love Goes On’, a cover of ‘Cryin’ by Aerosmith, and the lead single from the new record, ‘Cover You’, and every member of the crowd knows every word, ‘When the night falls I wanna cover you with my love / Hear the angels cryin’ out when we become onе / And I want ya, oh, and I need ya, oh / When the night falls I wanna cover you with my lovе’.

Several times throughout the show, Karter breaks the barrier between artist and audience, and steps off stage and gets in the crowd, who form a perfect circle around her. For her final trip to the crowd of the night, Karter seizes the moment to impart some wisdom to the crowd. After talking to the crowd about her fears, self-doubt, and the battles she’s faced in her career, she shouts: ‘but guess what? I’m still here, baby!… There is one thing that set me free, one thing that helped me accept myself, love myself and appreciate myself, and that one thing was rock ‘n roll! So when you come to our shows, you don’t come here to judge, you come here to find yourself, you come here to free yourself, you come here to feel something!’

‘There is one thing that set me free, one thing that helped me accept myself, love myself and appreciate myself, and that one thing was rock ‘n roll!’

The end of the main set is heralded by a performance of ‘Lightning In A Bottle‘, a song Karter says is about the magic that The Heroines have created by joining forces. She expresses her gratitude for not only working with such talented artists, but also for the friendship and support they provide for each other. It’s clear to see why it seems like the bands are reading each other’s minds – they know each other so well that they practically do.

As the band steps off stage before the encore, guitarist Peach gets the crowd clapping, and we continue to do so until the band re-emerge, joking that it was a test and if we’d stopped clapping they wouldn’t have come back for the final two songs. ‘It’s been an absolute treat, honestly, I’m on cloud nine right now’ Karter says before they play one of their most famous songs, ‘Devil On My Shoulder’. Mid-song, Karter thanks each member of the band, poking fun at her best friends. As we end the night with ‘Liquor Store on Mars’, there are tears from fans in the front row. Karter holds out her hand and a fan takes it, singing along with her. It’s a privilege to see Kelsy Karter & The Heroines live. Long live rock ‘n roll.

SETLIST

Are You Entertained?
I Get Off
Painkiller
God Knows I’ve Tried
Laser to the Heart
Hotel Flamingo
Wild
Holding Out for a Hero (Bonnie Tyler cover)
Superdream
Love Goes On
Cryin’ (Aerosmith cover)
Cover You
Runaway
Harry
Lightning in a Bottle
Devil On My Shoulder
Liquor Store on Mars