Photos provided by Ashley Osborn/Kia Forum
There’s nothing quite like watching an artist embark on their first arena tour. They don’t always sell the best and they require tons of trial and error to nail, but the glint in an artist’s eye as they finally bring to life their creative fantasies at the level of scale and spectacle they’ve previously only dreamed of is pure magic. I’ve watched several artists graduate from the Greek Theatre and make the leap to the Kia Forum in recent years — including Gracie Abrams, Sabrina Carpenter, and Olivia Rodrigo — but it’s been especially touching to follow Madison Beer’s journey and watch dreams like this become reality for her in real time.
Beer signed her first record deal at thirteen and went through enough trials and tribulations in the decade since to warrant her first memoir, The Half of It, at just twenty three. She details, with great vulnerability, her complicated relationships with social media, addiction, mental health, and bipolar disorder. For an artist to bounce back from all that and find themselves headlining the Forum is no small feat, but with the Locket Tour, Beer has handled such a major transition with grace, gratitude, and her stellar catalogue of hypnotizing hits.
Lulu Simon and thùy started off the night by showing off the wide range of the pop music genre: Simon, with her delicate, singer-songwriter voice; and thùy, with her confident energy and choreo. They were fittingly reminiscent of Beer’s own artistic duality — sometimes sweet and angelic, sometimes love-struck and sensual — which continued when Beer herself took the stage.
When the curtain dropped at nine, Beer’s set, once merely stairs and a screen two years ago, had now expanded to look like a carnival in the clouds that could assist Beer in luring the crowd further and further into her Tunnel of Love. In the spirit of fairytales and fantasies, the show fittingly began with Beer leaning into her status as a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show performer. The spellbinding, strut-worthy hits of “yes baby” and “15 MINUTES” set the tone, while “BOYSHIT” proved itself to be an excellent setlist inclusion for Pride Month. “You might have a way with words, but, honey, I’m a woman / I can’t understand ya ‘cause I don’t speak boy,” Beer yelled. She then exchanged the dance pop bangers for her many heartbroken ballads, which serve as reminders that even angels have bad days, too, when they make the all-too-familiar mistake of falling for boyshit.
The show’s ballad section was bridged by the deeply vulnerable “bad enough,” on which Beer confesses, “I know that I talk a big game, but nothin’ ever changes its ways.” Beer reemerged from the stage like a ballerina in a music box, and her poignant ballads then went on for nearly a dozen tracks in a row. With a voice this magnificent and a musical range with this much variety, however, Beer could have simply belted for ninety minutes straight and the crowd would have been captivated by her every word regardless. “The Greek was kind of like my bucket list venue. I was so, so excited to play there, and I thought that was such a dream come true. Honestly, the Forum just wasn’t even on my list because I didn’t think it was possible,” Beer shared before dedicating “somehow i got lucky” to her fans, both old and new, who made the night possible.
The highlight of this belting and songwriting showcase was “Selfish,” the 2020 single that established Beer’s voice as one of maturity and melancholy. “I bet you thought you gave me real love / But we spent it all in nightclubs,” Beer sings, never one to keep her true feelings confined within her locket. She finds solace in sharing her deepest and darkest thoughts with her fans both on her records and in her concerts, perhaps best exhibited by “Reckless,” a painful tale bookended by the lyrics “This is a story I hate and telling it might make me break / But I’ll tell it anyway” and “This is a story I hate, but I told it to cope with the pain / LA, I’m sorry that you can relate.”
Through her live show, Beer creates a safe space for her fans to cry and sing along to the sorrowful stories she tells. However, she also recognizes the importance of providing these crying fans with the comfort of knowing that things can and will get better, and she pulls off the transition by transforming back into the siren she embodies so well. Her stunning vocals and hypnotizing stage presence were a constant throughout the night, but reached their full power during the show’s third act. With songs like “Baby,” “angel wings,” and “make you mine,” Beer leaned into her seductive side and had the entire arena mesmerized in the palm of her hand. The third act peaked with the one-two punch of “for the night” and “free,” during which Beer cast a spell on the crowd with every longing stare, breathtaking hair flip, and chemistry-filled crawl toward one of her female dancers.
While Beer certainly excels as a siren, she ended the night with “bittersweet,” reminding the crowd of her signature duality. “I know I should be bitter, but baby, right now I’m bittersweet,” the crowd sang along, feeling those lyrics in their bones more than ever as the magical night came to a close. Beer creates a dream world on stage, but the Forum was Beer’s own dream come true for the night. Her command of that dream — thanks to an exquisite blend of vulnerability and confidence — made it clear why Beer has more than earned the angel wings she flaunts so effortlessly.
Listen to locket deluxe below!
