On Tuesday night, May 19, SOFIA ISELLA brought her HER DESIRE, THE NEMESIS TOUR to Prague’s SaSaZu club for a night of dark pop and genuine connection. She was joined by Seb Lowe as support.
British folk-punk artist Seb Lowe kicked off the night, fans at the barricade and on the balcony already cheering as he and Kate Couriel (his touring violinist and backup vocalist) took the stage. They opened with “Little Caesar,” and the duo brought a unique energy to the performance. While Seb mostly stayed put at his mic, Kate pranced across the stage with her violin, all smiles as she hyped up the crowd.
When they were both at their mics, though, the harmonies were gorgeous — it would be easy to close your eyes and fall into a trance listening to these two. As Seb made his way through several hits like “I’m Hateful, I’m Horrible, I Love You” and “People Like You,” the duo occasionally met in the middle to jam on their instruments, driving the crowd wild.
Seb also took a moment to introduce a few songs acknowledging the current political state of the UK, calling out the “far-right… or should I say, fascist” party, to which the crowd loudly cheered. After powering through some technical difficulties with the mics, Seb Lowe closed with “No One to Kill in the Sky.”
The crowd screamed as soon as the lights dimmed and the first dark, atmospheric beats of SOFIA ISELLA‘s set played. She burst onto the stage, her signature long hair keeping her face in shadows as she took the microphone, opening with “Out in the Garden.”
Although her music is dark and ambient, her stage presence was dynamic and almost aggressive. Her movements were fast and fluid as she ran from one side of the stage to the other, lying down on the floor before jumping back up again. She truly was everywhere all at once as she sang her first few songs — an impressive feat especially as we learned later in the evening that she wasn’t feeling her best. In fact, she had medications lined up at the back of the stage with her instruments.
If she hadn’t told us, though, we never would’ve known. Her command of the room was complete, made evident immediately by her raising her arms at different sections of the room — that’s all she had to do to get people cheering. The audience screamed even more as she took off her baggy tour t-shirt to reveal her tank top underneath, a move that has become a staple of her shows alongside the message of feminine rage in her music. She threw the t-shirt into the crowd, fans clamoring for a chance to catch it.
She barely paused for a breather as she launched into one of the highlights of the night, “Star v” from her recently released EP, Something is a shell . Her vocals floated gracefully over the words and the audience filled in the gaps as they sang the words right back.
Eventually, ISELLA slowed things down and spoke to the audience in a low voice: “Prague, I feel like we haven’t had a proper chat yet, how are we feeling?” She made a point to address each area of the room before announcing that she would need some help with the next song. She chose three fans from the barricade to join her on stage, and they were so excited they looked like they might cry. It was a touching moment, especially as ISELLA gathered each of them into a big hug before releasing them back into the audience.
ISELLA said she was surprised by how loud the Prague crowd was before mentioning that another surprising thing is how many grown men come to her shows. “I thought I scared you guys off a long time ago,” she joked before thanking them for being there and heading straight into “Above the Neck.”
Giving her voice a bit of a rest, ISELLA also took a moment to show off her instrumental talent. She brought out her violin teacher, who she said she’d been working with since she was 10, and the two burst into “The Well.” It’s one thing to know ISELLA is a wildly talented multi-instrumentalist, but it’s another to see that talent in action — and it’s safe to say the entire room was floored.
She then launched into another of the night’s highlights (even though her doctor reportedly advised her not to play it), “Everybody Supports Women” — a moment you could tell fans had been waiting for.
After a few more songs, she shared that they’d cut the setlist down quite a bit due to her illness, but that she was feeling better than she had when she stepped onto the stage. “You’re giving me my health back, Prague,” she exclaimed before asking, “have you ever heard of this thing called crowd surfing?”
Everyone immediately knew what was coming; fans from around the room pushed their way to the middle as ISELLA made her way off the stage and over the barricade. She crowd surfed for the entirety of “Orchestrated, Wet, and Verboten,” a moment fans will surely never forget.
As we headed into her last song of the night, she drily joked that her last audience in Oslo had something to say: “Oslo told me that people in Prague don’t know how to bounce. They said people in Prague don’t have knees… Do you have knees, Prague?” This bizarre approach won the crowd over even more as they strove to prove that they could indeed jump for her. As she was sick, there would unfortunately be no encore, so fans took this last opportunity to get low, sing along, and jump when she said jump — literally.
Once it was over, she took extended her personal gratitude to the crowd: “I can see every single on of your faces from up here, and I saw every one of your faces while I was out there crowd surfing, so when I say thank you to each and every one of you, I mean it.”
SOFIA ISELLA’s show was like no other we’d been to before. She’s bizarre in the best possible way. This contrast between her dynamic stage presence and the dark, almost industrial ambience of the music is exactly what makes it work: it’s almost shocking at times, just like her lyrics. Her willingness to let go also encourages her audience to do the same, making her shows a truly safe space. Not only that, but the music itself was incredible. Her minimalistic stage setup — just some rotating lights and a lineup of guitars, violin, and banjo at the back — allowed the focus to be all on her, and her vocal and instrumental talent were on full display.
Moreover, it’s rare to see someone at her level of stardom interact so closely and personally with fans during shows, but she clearly cares and wants them involved. Between pulling people up on stage to crowd surfing during one of her final songs, she lets fans into her experience, breaking barriers and forging an even stronger connection.
If you haven’t seen SOFIA ISELLA live yet, we highly recommend getting tickets to a show. The HER DESIRE, THE NEMESIS TOUR will continue throughout the EU and UK through June 4, followed by some festival appearances across Asia and North America. Get your tickets here.
SOFIA ISELLA TOUR DATES:
May 22 – Munich, DE @ Tonhalle
May 23 – Cologne, DE @ E-Werk
May 25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg Max
May 26 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg Max
May 27 – Paris, FR @ Élysée Montmartre
May 29 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
May 30 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute Birmingham
Jun 1 – Dublin, IE @ The National Stadium
Jun 3 – Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy Glasgow
Jun 4 – London, UK @ Roundhouse
Jul 24 – Seoul, SK @ Rolling Hall
Jul 26 – Niigata, JP @ Fuji Rock Festival
Jul 31 – St. Charles, IA @ Hinterland Music Festival
Aug 2 – Montreal, CA @ Osheaga Music Festival
Nov 26 – Mexico City, MX @ Corona Capital
KEEP UP WITH SOFIA ISELLA: Instagram // Spotify // TikTok // X // Facebook // Youtube // Website
KEEP UP WITH SEB LOWE: Website // Instagram // Spotify // TikTok
