I am standing in a room surrounded by hundreds of fans, one singular white cross on the stage, and everyone chanting “Nessa! Nessa! Nessa!” With incredible anticipation, the instrumental intro to her first song of the evening, “scare myself” begins to play, giving Toyota Oakdale Theatre an ominous feel that is just so Nessa. All of a sudden, after a second of flashing white lights and screams, Nessa Barrett appears on stage giving her audience waves of excitement.

Nessa kicks off her show by continuing with her intro of “scare myself” from her first ever EP, “pretty poison” and then straight into her next song, “american jesus” in her most recent EP, “hell is a teenage girl.”

She welcomed us into her show with the brightest smile and even asked the crowd, “Is everyone having fun?” to which the crowd responded back with the loudest cheers heard that night.

She continued with her setlist with songs including “tired of california,” “too hot to cry,” “god’s favorite,” “madhouse,” and even more popular hits.

After a few more of her songs, she decided to come down into the crowd to form a circle to play her newest released song, “club heaven.” This song was written about Nessa’s best friend, Cooper Noriega, who tragically passed away in June of 2022. “club heaven” is meant to be a parallel to her previous hit song, “die first.” Fans surrounded Nessa during this song with tears and lots of emotion for her. “What if I can’t get in? How will I see you again?,” Nessa sang.

Nessa met up with a super-fan right before the show at her soundcheck, in which he asked if he could perform her song “i hope ur miserable until ur dead” with her. She gladly agreed and when it was time for the song, the fan came out on stage and dedicated this song to all the people he disliked, with laughter and cheers from the crowd. He performed the song with her and it was definitely the highlight of the show for me. It gave the show the perfect down-to-earth and humorous touch.

Ending the show, Nessa played her hit single “BANG BANG!” released in February of 2023. She ran around the stage to the beat and held the microphone out to the crowd to scream the “bang bang” lines. I was the loudest in the crowd for this part, according to my videos. Fans cheered as Nessa said her thanks and shouted out her band before performing one last chorus. Her drummer threw his drumsticks to the crowd the second she had left the stage, keeping the crowd wild. I almost caught one, but the girl behind me got to it first.

Heading home was chaos because everyone was filled with joy and adrenaline. Echos of her name heard all around Toyota Oakdale hours past her ending, from everyone waiting for their rides to pick them up.

I had the privilege of seeing Nessa in March on her “young forever” tour, and all I can say is that Nessa has always been amazing but her stage presence has grown so much. She seems so much more confident in just a few months and her outfits are more bold than ever before. She truly seems to be finding herself and it makes me so proud to be a fan! I cannot wait to see what is to come in her future career.