Words and Photos by Faith Chapman
Stephen Dawes, an artist based in Los Angeles, California, had his debut headlining tour to promote his debut studio album, Skin to Skin. Dawes’ show at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn created a great atmosphere using his own lighting to backlit him and his band. His band consisted of a guitar player and a synth player to help emulate the synthetic sounds that were in his album.
Dawes opened the show expressing that he had injured his vocal chords whilst being on tour. Instead of cancelling the shows, he decided to take steroids so he can continue the shows, but had to be on vocal rest when each show was done.
Dawes’ album explores different themes throughout his life. The exploration of navigating through the emotional chaos of life, love, and the fear of letting someone into his life. Dawes’ opened up the night with his song “Symptom.” The song is about yearning for a person to like him back and treats the all consuming feelings for someone as a disease.
Dawes sang more songs from his discography such as, “Morphine,” “dopamine,” and “Cherry Red.” Each song had an amazing light design. “Cherry Red,” was a fun song, with the red lighting and his stage presence. The fans were singing along to each of his songs, while videoing him. He then slowed down the show and did a cover of “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry with his own melodic sound.
After the show, the audience shuffled into the bar area of Baby’s All Right to meet Dawes and take photos, despite him being able to talk. Dawes was truly immaculate, pushing through his injury and being present with the audience afterwards. Check out his music on all streaming platforms.
