PRIMA QUEEN + LILO – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 24.5.25
This is my fifth time seeing Prima Queen, a band I’ve been actively following and consuming their music since 2022. They are an indie/alternative rock band formed by trans-Atlantic best friends and joint song writers Kristin McFadden and Louise Macphail. I first saw them at the 100 Club in London where they supported Wet Leg and honestly I felt they were the better band that night. I’ve been lucky enough to catch them in Brighton at the Komedia and the Green Door Store twice including their first headline tour. Tonight we see the band come to Patterns for the third UK date of their 12 date tour in support of their debut album ‘The Prize’ so let’s get in to it.
At 20:50 the intro music ‘Clickbait’ played out of the speakers, drummer Heledd Owen was already primed and prepared, stationed behind her drumkit, whilst Kristin McFadden and Louise Macphail, who are joint vocalists and guitarists emerged from the dark to a big cheer.
With a “Hello Brighton, how are you doing” from Louise. They went straight into two songs from the new album, those were ‘Mexico’ and ‘Ugly’, both strong starters which went down well with the crowd. I felt the Prima Queen’s sound has evolved from their very early work, each time I see them things have been tweaked and changed, perhaps it is to do with the lack of bass player in the live setup, in previous years I have seen them as a foursome and just as a duo. Musically the vibe of the new album tracks definitely feel mellower to my ears, but this is just the start of the set, so things may well get more lively.
Next came a run of songs I was more familiar with having only heard the new album a couple of times so far prior to the gig. We had ‘Back Row’ from the 2023 EP ‘Not The Baby’ followed by what is probably still my favourite song, their 2022 single ‘Chew My Cheeks’, one I was very much singing along to. Both Louise and Kristin, ever smiling, bobbing and dancing to the songs as they both played their guitars.
Louise addressed the attentive crowd “We are very happy to be here in Brighton, this next one is very special to me, as it’s about my Auntie and she lived in Brighton, it’s about Alzheimer’s, and is for anyone or anyone that knows someone with it, it’s called ‘Butter Knife’”. This was released as a single in 2022 single, a soft, beautiful, gentle song, Louise almost softly speaks the lyrics in this one, whilst Kristin played the violin and Heledd played softer drums whilst shaking a shaker. It was an emotional song and performance for sure, quite cinematic with the slow build up and their vocal harmonies.
After the song Kristin spoke “We just realised our very first album, ‘The Prize’, and it’s been so fun to celebrate it on tour, it’s been a long long time coming, me and Louise met almost 9 years ago. Fate brought us together from across the world and finally we get to put out a full length album, it’s awesome, and awesome to have your best friend to live your life with” Louise added “We made things and we are going to play some of those things we made right now, this one is called ‘Meryl Streep’”. There was a bit of a false start with Louise joking, “oh no, we may have to wait another 9 years” creating a wave of laughter, but this one started a full run of songs from the album continuing into ‘Woman And Child’ then ‘Oats (Ain’t Gonna Beg)’. This one was a more lively number, far more pop-like and was the fourth single from the album, a fun song about the rise and fall of romance and dating. I reckon this one was my favourites.
As the run of new album songs continued, we were informed that “we are going to take things down a bit now” as Louise strapped on an acoustic guitar. Kristin started to take her electric guitar off before stopping exclaiming “hold on, I don’t know why I’m taking this off” Louise replied “yeah you keep that on girl” with Kristin replying “sorry, I just thought I should do what you were doing”. There was then a discussion about how things can become a two person job when you are so in tune with each other, like in an office with two people photocopying together when it only needs one person, Kristin said “that’s our life now and we are committed to it”.
A round of applause was given to “The Welsh Queen” drummer Heledd, who had just snuck out at the back of the stage and the set entered a very acoustic section, first the very mellow and tranquil ‘Spaceship’ which had Kristin also strumming along ever so gently on her electric guitar. At the end, Louise mentioned how songs can sometimes be written indirectly about people or experiences, but you can then worry if said person or people hear the song and might then twig it might have been about them. Kristin then called Louise over “hey bestie, I need your help” explaining to the crowd “we got these new pedals, there are super awesome, until they are not and get stuck, we have a setting for each song and mine is stuck on ‘Spaceship’, which a really bad setting to get stuck on…no offence” Louise came over and worked her magic “aaah now it’s fixed” beamed Kristin to a big cheer from the crowd.
Louise then told us earlier in the tour her pedals got stuck on the ‘Mexico’ setting which was so loud and she had to play the whole set using it. Kristin added “This is why it’s important to play lots of gigs, as bad things can happen and we learn from them, which relates to this next song, we write a lot of songs about people in our life and sometimes we look back at and think oooh maybe we were a bit mean, some days you have a whole different perspective on the situation, maybe it wasn’t that bad or maybe it was”. The song was ‘More Credit’. Again this song was acoustic without drums, often how the duo have performed gigs previously, both now on electric guitars and harmonising the lyrics and vocals. Another beautiful experience to watch and hear.
Heledd returned to her drums prompting the pair to joke that she had mysteriously re-appeared and was using her special “Welsh queen power”. For the next song they said they would normally introduce it as it was such a nice day today, but referencing the poor weather outside that it was not the day for Brighton, so it became a song Brighton now needed, it was the ‘Sunshine Song’. Yellow lights were brought up for this one, however Louise had to swap acoustic guitars as hers was not picking up sound through the amps, this one was a nice upbeat gentle song.
Next the pair joked about their visit to the Thai Pad Thai restaurant on Dyke Road, a 25 minute walk and they always go there when they come and how whilst on tour they try and do that in each town or city and then tell the audience to spread the word, so next time they visit they might get a free meal. The last of the run of songs from the new album was ‘Fool’, another lighter, more pop orientated song, hence it being one of the earlier single releases. It was a fun song, during which both Kristin and Louise did their trademark strutting across to each other and back to their positions at each side of the stage, something they did during most songs whilst swaying and dancing.
Taking a break from the album, we had two of their super strong earlier releases ‘Dylan’ from the 2023 EP ‘Not The Baby’, and the mega excellent 2022 single ‘Eclipse’. This one had everyone singing along, such a soaring song, l love it, both Louise and Kristin beaming and energetically moving about the stage as they played this one, not to forget Heledd powering those drums.
The last song of the night was ‘The Prize’. Louise said they wrote the song to each other and it’s about “when you see someone being made to feel small, perhaps in a breakup and they are sad, but you are saying and think, what no, you are the prize, how could you forget, you are the prize” Kristin added, “it seemed to be the perfect name for the album as it summed everything up and we love sports and the idea of Team Prima Queen…and you guys are team Prima Queen and to celebrate that we wanted to give out some peaches as prizes”. Louse picked up the Prize trophy that had sat on a podium behind them, the first went to a lady called Sadie who had danced so hard all night, the next went to Christine & Shaun two fans in the front row, that have shown much dedication in following the band including flying out to Germany last week to see them, next then came a peach to be shared in case they were related, Soph Devine and low and behold Jerry Levine (that’s my alias hence me putting ‘Jerry’ in my writing name!), that came as a surprise, I’m not sure where my fake name was pulled from, but it was a lovely touch to the end of the evening. You’re a diamond, you’re a dream, you’re a peach were the intro words to ‘The Prize’ a really warm, lovely fuzzy song, one that really puts a smile on your face and the perfect end to proceedings.
This was a wonderful gig, it felt very intimate and I wonder if the band felt that too, particularly as they had played a near 900 capacity London venue just two days before. I would imagine that perhaps the band would change their settings, dial things down a little to make it feel that way, it felt like we were all at a secret event just for us. I make no lie of it, I do love Prima Queen, this new album really is a prize in terms of the journey Louise and Kristin have taken to get here, it’s been a long time coming.
When I look at the setlist, we were actually treated to all songs but one tonight from it. What I really love about seeing Prima Queen perform is the true affection and respect both Louise & Kristin have for each other, always smiling, glancing across and making eye contact, playing as one. I still stand by my thoughts of that 100 Club appearance in 2022, they were the better band then on the night and really deserve to be on a bigger stage now, I guess I should savour and make the most of these intimate gigs while I still can.
Prima Queen:
Kristin McFadden – vocals, guitar and violin
Louise Macphail – vocals & guitar
Heledd Owen – drums
Prima Queen setlist:
‘Clickbait’ (Intro) (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
‘Mexico’ (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
‘Ugly’ (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
‘Back Row’ (from 2023 ‘Not The Baby’ EP)
‘Chew My Cheeks’ (a 2022 single)
‘Butter Knife’ (a 2022 single)
‘Meryl Streep’ (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
‘Woman and Child’ (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
‘Oats (Ain’t Gonna Beg)’ (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
‘Spaceship’ (Acoustic) (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
‘More Credit’ (Acoustic) (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
‘Sunshine Song’ (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
‘Fool’ (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
‘Dylan’ (from 2023 ‘Not The Baby’ EP)
‘Eclipse’ (a 2022 single)
‘The Prize’ (from 2025 ‘The Prize’ album)
Support this evening came from Lilo who were completely unknown to me until Thursday this week when I started doing my homework ready for tonight. Well my Bandcamp and YouTube findings blew me away, so I had been rather excited to hear them live and direct. Lilo are duo Christie Gardner and Helen Dixon. Their music style is what would be described as perhaps indie folk, they have both been writing and performing together since their teenage years. They have already put out a couple of EPs, but their debut album ‘Blood Ties’ was released just a couple of months ago. The pair have supported Prima Queen on their Bristol, London and Brighton dates of this tour. They do have connection with Prima Queen in that the bass player they play with is Kitty Fitz, who was Prima Queen’s bass player, however, tonight’s performance was going to be acoustic with just Christie and Helen and no band. It’s not the first time for the pair to play Brighton, having played at previous Great Escape festivals, The Hope & Ruin and the only back in April this year The Folklore Rooms.
At 19:45 both Christie & Helen tried to make their way to the stage through the doorway at centre stage to find they could not get past the drum kit, so had to retrace their steps and head to the side to make their way to two tall chairs at centre front stage. Welcoming the crowd they asked “Did anyone see us get stuck in the dressing room, a Barry & Paul Chuckle moment”
The 32 minute, six song set comprised predominantly of songs from their ‘Blood Ties’ album. The first of which was the song was ‘Crash The Car’, which had Christie playing her acoustic guitar and singing lead vocals, before Helen joined on the chorus’s and then had the pair singing in unison.
Whilst the pair tuned their guitars, Helen spoke “thank you so much, has anyone been swimming today, it’s so choppy out there; I went swimming in a pond in Hampstead today. I really only asked you as I wanted to tell you about myself, I passed some little ducklings and they were really nice, I saw some making a nest, it was very serene”. Christie then thanked “Prima Queen for having them on tour saying it has been fun fun fun, the next song is…” but she stopped as couldn’t find her pedal switch as it had worked its way under her microphone stand. Helen finished her off by introducing the next song ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’ as a song from their 2023 ‘I Don’t Like My Chances On The Outside’ EP. This one was sung by both in harmony, really strong powerful stuff, you could have heard a pin drop.
Next there was a swap around in the planned setlist, so Christie only had to tune one string, rather re-tuning them all then having to do it again afterwards. The song was following on from the theme of the previous tune, based on the same person (a former boyfriend), and what comes next, “bigger fish to fry”, it was called ‘Nevada’, again jointly sung, I loved this one even more than the last, it had a memorable guitar rhythm, sung so beautifully.
In between songs, the pair both had little chats, talking with the crowd and between each other, it really made this feel so intimate. They were very relaxed and casual, smiling at each other. “So we have just put out an album, it’s hard work, it’s a lot, especially when you are working two jobs, and making the album is an extra job, a third job, but personally it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, so I guess worth it, I loved it so much I’ll have to do it all again, even though it is so inconvenient and expensive” said Helen, Christie followed up mentioning their merch available after the gig, but sadly they didn’t have the album, Helen added “so you’ll never hear it, it’s really good you’ll just have to take our word for it”. The next song was written when Christie was 19 and about making mistakes and how you keep making the same mistakes forever, which she confirmed now 9 years later she still was. The song was ‘Back On My Feet’. Another excellent track, and a hard one to find as it was on a bonus 7” that came with the LP. A big cheer and applause followed once more.
The final two songs were ‘Step’ , one about making mistakes again, Christie joked “trying, trying, trying…and then we die”. The final song was ‘Closing Time’ another mesmerising performance with them both in unison singing to a climax. I was utterly spellbound by their performance, I had come here thinking it would be a full band, but just the pair of them acoustically was pure magic. I figured I’d buy their EPs after Prima Queen’s set, but when I spotted them saying their goodbyes, I took the risk of leaving my front row spot to go and say hello and quickly buy them, such lovely people too. I managed to find one of the final copies of their ‘Dinked LP’ online and honestly can’t wait for it to arrive to listen. Brilliant songs, beautiful voices, great lyrics, superb dry witted banter between songs, now I need to see them with a full band! Go grab that last copy of their LP if you can find it.
Lilo:
Christie Gardner – vocals & guitar
Helen Dixon – vocals & guitar
Lilo setlist:
‘Crash The Car’ (from 2025 ‘Blood Ties’ album)
‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’ (from 2023 ‘I Don’t Like My Chances On The Outside’ EP)
‘Nevada’ (from 2025 ‘Blood Ties’ album)
‘Back On My Feet’ (from bonus 7” that came with the 2025 ‘Blood Ties’ album)
‘Step’ (from 2025 ‘Blood Ties’ album)
‘Closing Time’ (from 2025 ‘Blood Ties’ album)
