NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
It’s pretty hard to believe but the last time we saw Betty Who (aka Jessica Anne Newham) was when she played a private show at a furniture store (CB2) in New York City back in 2018. This doesn’t mean she hasn’t been touring regularly; quite the opposite actually but somehow we’ve managed to keep missing her whether she was headlining or supporting Panic! at the Disco or Kesha. She first hit it big with her dance anthem “Somebody Loves You” that seemed to be everywhere at the time. As with most acts, Who (yes, who’s on first) was derailed a bit by Covid and the subsequent lockdown but she finally released her fourth studio album Big! (standing at 6’2″, this was not a metaphor) in October 2022 and made her Broadway debut as Persephone in Hadestown in 2023! Just a little busy. With the release of the single “Run!” in April and “Sweat” a month ago, we can only hope there’s a new record coming! In the meantime, her Out of the Darkness Tour is winding up and she stopped by Spirit Hall (originally slated for the Roxian Theatre) in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, June 25th.
Inside the venue, besides merch, a local group Allies that provides health services for the LGBTQIA+ community had a table with some knick knacks and information regarding services that they provide. Betty Who identifies as queer and bi-sexual is always front and center in her support of the queer community, performing at Pride events, etc, and this show was no exception. You can contact Allies at (412) 345-7456, their social media handle @AlliesPGH, or their website.
Opening for Betty Who was Molly Grace (aka Molly Grace Zeytoonian) based out of Nashville. A loud and proud lesbian, Grace’s songs often are about being queer and attraction to women. As she took the stage with her two dancers/backup singers, you could help but smile because her joy was so contagious! Dancing around the stage, she really got the party started as the crowd was having a great time. Many in the audience were singing along as well, adding to the atmosphere. With a live album and two EPs under her belt, Grace has released four singles in 2025 and her debut studio album is set to be released on July 4th!
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Betty Who and her dancers appeared on stage obscured in shadow lit only by backlights as the first beats of “Run!” hit our eardrums. As the party got started, between her dazzling smile, the fun and flirty choreography, and the music (of course), you knew this was an artist whose performance just makes everyone happy. Yes this is pop music but I’ve been to plenty of enjoyable pop concerts where the crowd doesn’t have the same exuberance as I saw this night.
She followed up with “WEEKEND” from Big!, followed by “Mama Say’ from The Valley. You can see even in the first three songs of the set that Betty Who was going to play a very balanced setlist, featuring songs from each of her studio albums as well as her new singles. Oddly enough, my favorite part of the show was when she sang and played acoustic guitar, including a duet of Hilary Duff’s “What Dreams Are Made of” with Molly Grace! So fun. She did perform two other covers: Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” which Who released as a single in 2023 and the closer, Donna Lewis’s “I Love You Always Forever” which is always a crowd pleaser!
As usual, the song that got the most crowd reaction was also the song that got everything started, “Somebody Loves You”! I think that song will always be a favorite unless she has a song in her new record that just blows us away. Betty Who will be closing out her tour in a few days but we fully expect a new studio album and follow-up tour in the future!
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