DELILAH BON, LE BELLADONE In Ottawa, Canada

Women In Unison, Coming After You! UK Rap/Rock Rebel Serves The Patriarchy Its Just Desserts At Club SAW On September 14, 2026

Twerking!
Expressive pain!

And beckoning fateful encounters for ladies only! And for about the 20 men including myself at the show too, I guess.
Are you into equal gender rights for all while eager to put the old boys’ club under the blade for at least one night? Club SAW was that place – and probably still is at the time of writing this review – for two up-and-coming eclectic female-fronted bands ready to take on the patriarchy, kicking and screaming.

In the case of Montreal-based LE BELLADONE, there was actually more operatic chanting and a bit of the Hannah Montana booty shuffle taking place than any serious kicking or screaming during their 45-minute set. Best described as abrasive, frontal and hyper pop-sounding, the non-binary composer dabbles in sensual and edgy-sounding pop with both fragile and cruel lyrics a bit in the vein of DOROTHY and POPPY but in French and with lots of keyboards and backing sonic effects. And evidently, without a vast biography as they are next to impossible to locate online; even their official website doesn’t reveal much about their history as a band/artist, though with their debut album Eucharistie only having been released back in late June, that’s a good enough reason. Letting their own music do the talking because clearly their bio ain’t and an online search keeps redirecting me either towards the well-known ANTHRAX frontman or the lesser-known former porn actress of both the same name, LE BELLADONE, in a white gown and angel wings and joined by an accompanying keyboardist and drummer, has the predominantly female crowd bopping and baying to synth-laden operatic haunting tracks such as “Nymphe”, “Enfant”, “Sang Du Christe” and their breakout number “Bitch”. And such a number that gets the butt movin’, LE BELLADONE also gets in on the proverbial groove action during their performance as their keyboardist is brought to the forefront and the pair are suddenly twerking like jackrabbits on crack. When it comes to the adage “dance like nobody’s watching”, LE BELLADONE definitely takes the meaning to heart. The audience certainly enjoyed it, the majority being similarly non-binary-identifying concertgoers in the early/mid 20’s all the way up to their early 40’s. Likely being the oldest person in attendance at the gig by at least 30 years, while I didn’t really click immediately with LE BELLADONE’s brand of loud sonic dancey-sounding hypercore since I’m as far out from that niche as I could possibly be by comparison, I do respect the performance, the energy and the chemistry that went into keeping the audience fully entertained and engaged. As one other famous Belladonna has recently put it, it’s for the kids and your thoughts and prayers from the outside mean nothing when the majority is in a state of euphoria, never wanting for the journey to end.

https://www.lebelladone.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GAOfficielle/
https://www.instagram.com/lebelladone

Our headline artist was once in a UK-based band with the catchy moniker of HANDS OFF GRETEL back in 2015, who released two studio albums before taking a prolonged absence in 2022. Their music featured a mix of mostly punk, alternative and even grunge circa the riot grrrl era and came from a strong DIY ethic courtesy of singer/guitarist Lauren Tate, who literally was all about DIY when it came to designing the band’s album covers, the artwork on their merch and conceiving their music videos. By all accounts, this band should have been huge especially given their reviews likening them to comparable success similar to NIRVANA, except that Lauren had encountered something even larger in the scene that she found was heavily eclipsing her progress: The lack of a real female voice amongst the all-boys’ club, and not just her own, but for the better half in the music scene overall. 

And then her DIY instinct hit again: Women in the music scene are better off making their own success and earning their own recognition, which was something she realized that she wouldn’t be acquiring directly through HANDS OFF GRETEL. 

And, hence, through a new persona and a new outlook on the music scene, DELILAH BON and a new genre known as brat-punk was conceived. The genre is an interesting gathering of the latter-year music genres such as grunge, alternative, punk, nu-metal and emo fused together with hip-hop and R&B influences and even a trace of ’00 pop diva influences (Britney, Christina, etc. even all the way up to Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo). It looks and even sounds alien to the outside listener unfamiliar with many of these more current genres and heavily questioning why such a marriage of sorts should even be allowed to exist, but DELILAH BON as a collective unit somehow makes it work, especially with having three studio albums to their credit. 

And it’s perhaps both that same combination of DIY spirit and musical creativity that brought DELILAH BON to a near sold-out show at Club SAW that same night. Well, that and the significant amount of word-of-mouth about the show on social media courtesy of the band’s legion of fans known as Bon Bons. Regardless, the rambunctious trio currently comprised of Lauren, bassist Becky Baldwin (FURY, MERCYFUL FATE) and drummer Sam “Samson” Williams took to the stage with the loud and brash-sounding punk rock rouser “Illegal Alien” and were greeted by the crowd like they were close friends. Lauren’s stage presence was enduring and commanding while Becky’s sonic bass grooves sounded like she was playing two instruments most of the time. Sam’s tubthumping skills are also no slouch either as he provides enough riffs and beats to make up the heavy back end. The punk segment of the show continued with the jumpy anthem “Brat” which had a few hip-hop elements to its sound which brings to mind a bit of early STUCK MOJO in parts as Lauren asked the crowd about their level of brattiness – to which the crowd responded in kind. Thus far, this band is intriguing the more that I’m beginning to know about them through each song. Lauren describes DB’s current Canadian tour as their “dream tour” and she continues to gush gratitude in “having finally made it to Ottawa”. Honestly, I’d only heard about the band strictly because of finding out about the MERCYFUL FATE connection via Becky Baldwin. And while I wasn’t expecting DELILAH BON to break into a cover of “Satan’s Fall” for the handful of heavy metal dudes in attendance either, this was still a show for any and all fans searching for that personal space in their lives. Moreso for the majority female audience as battle cries of “Chop Dicks” and “Dead Men Don’t Rape” are loud enough to really put the patriarchy on notice. And, yes, the modest gathering of male attendees would have been lying to ourselves if we weren’t occasionally wishing to have worn a cup during those songs’ performances. On the other hand, we had brought that sudden rebellion upon ourselves and against ourselves as Lauren had told of various horror stories about men in power abusing their privilege against women – including from her own past experiences – in between songs, particularly on “Time’s Up”, “I Don’t Listen To You” and (obviously) “War On Women”. Closing with the female anatomic celebratory number “Bush”, DELILAH BON’s sole regret of the night on their first Ottawa visit would be that the show wasn’t longer and that the merch supply had been more bountiful (their Montreal show the previous night had cleaned the band out of swag). But as Lauren amassed a queen’s fortune in fan selfies and Becky prepares her case to convince KING DIAMOND and company to finally play more than two Canadian shows since the repatriation of the Constitution, DELILAH BON otherwise networked like hell and forged an impressionable Delilah bond with her new Ottawa fanbase. And to DB’s detractors, sometimes revenge is a sugary treat best served cold.

https://www.delilahbon.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/delilahbonofficial
https://www.facebook.com/DelilahBon/

Setlist:

“Illegal Aliens”
“Brat”
“I Don’t Listen To You”
“I Am The Best”
“Chop Dicks”
“Cinderella”
“Time’s Up”
“War On Women”
“Not The President”
“Princeless Princess”
“Maverick”
“I Wish A Bitch Would”
“Dead Men Don’t Rape”
“Evil, Hate Filled Female”
“Bush”