Danica Bryant – Big Fan: September 4, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
Indie-pop rising star Danica Bryant took the stage at Big Fan on September 4, after the recent release of what was undoubtedly a stellar first album, Feast. Playing to a small but intimate and excitable crowd, Danica (and the band) put on an undeniably fun performance for all who were lucky enough to attend.
Emily Bateman
Emily Bateman played first, bringing beautiful yearning-style ballads and getting the audience warmed up. She played her best-known songs, including Most Wanted, Sixth Sense, Cold Shoulder, and What a Dream. The latter two are from her 2025 EP Pale Light. With a charming stage presence and emotional lyrics, no doubt Emily walked away with a few new fans as a result of her performance.
Danica Bryant
Danica began the show with Introduction, followed by the very timely The Band. I can confirm, I had not met the band – and was stoked to in this way. Bandmates Nat and Tyler complemented Danica perfectly in both style and sound, and it was immediately obvious why they work as a live trio. From the upbeat energy of The Band, a quick tone switch caused a transition into the beguiling Burlesque Witch. It’s one of Feast’s best tracks and the first of the night, which truly highlighted Danica’s vocal (and instrumental) dexterity. I said in my album review that I would love to hear it live – and love hearing it live, I did.
The similarly dancey Buzz was up next, followed by the sultry, romantic In Love (with a Girl) and a tongue-in-cheek track from 2022 titled Crush. Watching Danica’s expressions added so much fun to the set, and the way she sings is cheeky, and yet the talent is at a powerhouse level – a lot of artists don’t sound as good as they do live as in the studio, but Danica absolutely exceeds the record version of Feast live. Narcissist was another fun and relatable track to hear in person, but one of the real highlights for me was the performance of Cinnamon. Cinnamon is a slow, open-hearted, country-folk style song addressing the feeling of care in a relationship as a novelty experience at the beginning. With its contemplative style, it was a great choice for the show’s middle.
Libra (to the laughter of the few Libras in the audience) is another older track, and was Danica’s first NZ-on-Air funded track. Shoutout to all the Astrology people for that one – it’s clear that even from the beginning of her career, Danica has had a talent for lyricism and melodies that cut wittingly to the bone.
And with that, it was onto one of the most anticipated sections of the night – the cover. Amusement rippled through the audience as Danica said there was either ‘a lot of Swifties or homophobes’ in the room, before launching into Taylor Swift’s track from her debut album, Picture to Burn. It’s not one Taylor herself performs much anymore, but the diehard Swifties (like me) were captivated and hanging onto every word.
Danica closed the show with a run of groovy, animated tracks that absolutely summed up how everyone in the room was feeling. Despite the late hour, everyone was running on what felt like a chemical high – and as Danica belted her hits I’ll Be (Your) Drag Queen, Morals and Acid, it was clear that the Feast tour is the place to be right now.
Chantal Dalebroux
Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Chris Zwaagdyk:
Danica Bryant:
Emily Bateman:
