LIVE REVIEW:
PHOTO CREDIT: Manon Pothin
Billie Marten (O2 Forum Kentish Town, London)
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EVEN though she has been…
touring for over six weeks now, Billie Marten is not yet done. You can see her dates here. Looking at her Instagram feed, and you get a real sense of the places she has been. A lot of Instagram accounts are, to be fair, filled with something quite shallow and unengaging. When it comes to Billie Marten, we get something like a tour diary. Shots of the towns and cities she has been visiting. Many photos showing her at various bookshops. As an avid book-lover, it is amazing seeing her at all these beautiful and international bookshops. It is engrossing and fascinating. So far this year, Marten has played in the U.S., Europe and the U.K. as part of her Dog Eared Tour. I was there last night (15th November) as she played at the O2 Forum Kentish Town. A venue I was last at in 2024 to see Nadine Shah, it was lovely to be back at a venue quite local to me (I am based out of Hackney). Waiting outside of the venue, it was interesting seeing the make-up of Billie Marten fans. Predominately young women, there was a lot of excitement in the build-up. It is encouraging to see such a young fanbase. It is clear that Billie Marten’s music is resonating with a young and hungry generation, though there were a smattering of fans my age (in our forties). It was an incredible atmosphere as we snaked into the O2 Forum Kentish Town. Filtering into the venue and there was a lot of anticipation and this incredible electricity. Being a music journalist, I was noting the music that was being played in the warm-up and pre-show. Including was Symphony in Blue by Kate Bush. From her second studio album, Lionheart, it made me respect Billie Marten more (and Marten is a Kate Bush fan). And it enforced my argument that all the best artists are influenced by Bush. Random details aside, it was a wonderful gig that was heighted by the incredible support of Le Ren. The Canadian artist has been supporting Billie Marten for her European and U.K. dates. Kentish Town was her final show with Marten. A realisation that made her emotional, this was a wonderful and instantly loveable artist. Pretending to be Billie Marten at the start – joking she had dyed her hair and was playing songs that nobody would recognise -, it was a funny and charming way to kick off her set!
I had heard of Len Ren prior to the gig, though I am compelled to follow her closely, as she was captivating. With some Canadian friends in the audience, this amazing artist had the audience in the palm of her hands. With songs about unrequited love and fascination, Le Ren was open, self-deprecating and funny throughout such a beautiful set. I do hope that 2026 sees new music come from this incredible talent. Le Ren would return to the stage later in the evening to join Billie Marten. It is clear that the two have quickly become close friends, so I would not be surprised to see Le Ren appear on a future Billie Marten album. As she bade farewell and performed her final number, she had easily and confidently won over the sell-out crowd at the O2 Forum Kentish Town. Saying how she recently moved in with her boyfriend but had been on tour since then – so they have not actually lived together yet! -, I know we will be hearing a lot more from this astonishing talent. Before Billie Marten took to the stage, I did get struck by a few things. Even though there were a very overly-talkative audience members (at one point, two girls were reprimanded for talking loudly throughout; it was amicably rectified without any argument) that sort of took something out of the night – and security were deployed at one point to deal with an incident/something during Marten’s set -, there was this unity and hugely positive vibes. It was an audience comprised of lover and close friends. People coming together to witness one of our very best artists! Bathed in a stage of, at the start, purple and yellow lighting, I was mulling something over before Marten took to the stage. Next year will be ten years since her debut album, Writing of Blues and Yellows, was released. My favourite album of the 2010s, I do wonder whether she will do anything to mark that. The Ripon-born twenty-six-year-old released her fifth studio album, Dog Eared, on 18th July through Fiction.
It stuns me that she has never been nominated for a Mercury Prize! Also, how her phenomenal albums have received glowing reviews but charted relatively modestly. Dog Eared reached forty-six in the U.K., though her previous album, 2023’s Drop Cherries, got to number fifty-three. Such a phenomenal artist whose music is beguiling and incredibly affecting, you do wonder about the gap between huge mainstream artists and the attention they get, compared to artists like Billie Marten. Speaking about the difficulties mid-range artists face, Marten said how “It’s a capitalist mentality and we’re all paying Taylor Swift”. How hard artists have to work to make any money, and what a struggle it is. How a major artist like Swift could earn more money in a single day than Marten is going to make from the entirety of her current tour. Not to dismiss the music of these global Pop artists, but there is this enormous disparity. Marten is, objectively, a songwriter if not equal to but superior to Swift. You do wonder why she and so many artists like her do not get more. Whether that will change. Even if Marten would not welcome the same scrutiny and attention as a Taylor Swift and her ilk, there is this tragedy realising that her wonderful albums get a fraction of the popularity and earning power that you see of the biggest artists. These are just asides and musings, yet it is worth mentioning Le Ren noted during her support set, not only how great Billie Marten’s music is, but how great a person she is off stage too. This was solidified and proven very quickly. Backed by her incredible band – who alternately backed her and then departed the stage for the more acoustic numbers -, Marten wasted no time in delivering a phenomenal set. Though audience interaction was limited for the first few songs, we did get more from Marten as the set unfolded. Highlights included the songwriter leading the crowd in a unified, gentle sway. Marten singing happy birthday to an audience member called Lily who she noticed in the balcony section. She also took to the piano to perform a Neil Young cover. Maybe she had done this for previous dates, though Marten said this was her first time playing the piano (on stage?), and she did not know why she subjected herself to it! With a little bit of feeling her way into the song, it was a beautiful and unexpected moment that makes me wonder whether we will hear Marten’s piano playing on the next album. She did return to the piano for another song a bit later in the set.
At every stage and at all times when speaking to the audience, she was charming, engaging and completely commanding. With some surprise guests, including Flyte (her partner is Will Taylor of the trio; she collaborated with Flyte on their song, Don't Forget About Us), it was a phenomenal live performance. In terms of the biggest reaction, maybe I Can't Get My Head Around You got the most excitement and cheer. Taken from Drop Cherries, my personal highlights were the tracks from Dog Eared, through the entire set was magnificent. For a one-song encore, Billie Marten divided the venue into Teams A and B and led them in a wordless singalong. “Competitive singing”, it was a prime example of her natural and loveable personability as a live performer. Caring, funny, hugely warm and down to Earth (and blessed with one of the most hypnotic and listenable speaking voices ever!), she has this mastery and command of the stage. Maybe the result of extensive touring, for a routine that could have gone wrong and was like juggling plates, she ably and assuredly led this wonderful moment. Although Team A were not as on it as Team B (I was in Team A, naturally!), everyone came together in the end. Marten and her band (with Flyte and Le Ren) took their bows and received a rapturous cheer and applause for her devoted fans. Despite one or two audience issues and natural drawbacks of gigs, the crowd were completely amazing and supportive. Showing Billie Marten such love throughout! It was a five-star set and a perfect finale to the U.K. leg of the Dog Eared Tour.
As we all filtered out of the 02 Forum Kentish Town and scurried towards the nearby Tube station, I was taking it all in. A triumphant local gig, I would urge everyone to get Dog Eared on vinyl. As an independent journalist, I did not have a photographer with me, and I am not sure if any press were in. Suffice to say, it was a wonderful gig, and I hope my words can do it justice! Dog Eared is one of my favourite albums of the year, and the gig I just saw without doubt one of the very best I have ever seen. As a fan of Billie Marten for well over a decade now, I can feel that she is going to be releasing albums and playing these mesmeric shows for decades more. She has a short break before she heads out to continue her tour in North America. With her final date before Christmas taking place in Chicago on 13th December, she will then head back out and plays around Australia and New Zealand until 10th February. When that final date (in Auckland, New Zealand) is wrapped up, it will end this long global tour. I know Marten loves performing for fans but, at a time when artists like her deserve so much more and should be earning a comfortable wage, you feel like she will not receive as much as she deserves. However, the happy memories of these incredible crowds and cities – and some incredible and cute bookshops along the way! – no doubt provide some compensation. I hope 2026 brings more commercial acclaim. I hope she does get an award of some kind. I hope she gets to play some big festival stages. I hope she gives up smoking! More than anything, I hope that Billie Marten has a truly wonderful and happy year ahead, as she is pretty much perfect. I need to chat with her one day soon, if not about her own music and life, but artists she is inspired by (maybe talking about Neil Young, Kate Bush or Joni Mitchell). Not only is the proud daughter of Ripon a British treasure and one of this country’s finest songwriters. Based on Dog Eared and her incredible gig at the 02 Forum Kentish Town, this incredible queen is…
ONE of the greatest artists in the world.