Raye Brings New Music and Hope to the Hydro
By Lucy Kerr
The energy outside of Glasgow’s OVO Hydro felt unusually pleasant the night of February 20th. Instead of the chaos that can often accompany Friday night concerts, the assembled crowd seemed remarkably calm and cheerful as they converged on the arena. As the doors opened, groups of twenty-something women, families with young kids bouncing around, and couples of all ages on double dates eagerly flooded into the arena. This varied group had two things in common: at least one person per group seemed to be wearing a sparkly outfit, and we were all waiting to see Raye perform the first of two Glasgow shows.
The gig’s openers were Raye’s younger sisters, Amma and Absolutely, who took the stage one after the next, each with distinct musical styles, aesthetics, and personalities when engaging with the crowd. Amma exuded a bubbly pop star charm, joking with the crowd about the plight of being a middle child and chatting with the steadily growing audience on the stadium floor. The aesthetic and musical tone completely shifted as Absolutely began her set. Where her sister had exuded sweetness and sparkles, Absolutely’s style had a darker edge to it, fusing futuristic space glam with a gothic Victorian energy (like if an alien had landed in the middle of Wuthering Heights). Before she fully launched into her ethereal rock music, she proudly announced to the audience that her sophomore album, Paracosm, had been released earlier that day.
Despite the sisters’ distinct musical styles, the whole show, from the Amma and Absolutely taking the stage to the curtain closing on Raye’s encore, felt rewardingly cohesive. Later in Raye’s performance it seemed clear how much her sisters joining her on tour not only seemed to fill the star with pride but allowed her to seem perfectly at home in an arena full of strangers.
Raye’s second album, THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE., may not be released until March 27th but that certainly hasn’t held her back from touring. ‘This Tour May Contain New Music’, is both a celebration of her rich existing catalog, and an enchanting rollout for her upcoming release. As cathartic as it was to be part of the whole audience screaming along to Raye’s biggest hits, the show's most exciting moments came when she introduced new songs. Since leaving the concert, unreleased tracks like ‘Beware the South London Loverboy’ have been stuck in my head, making me wish countless times that I could pull them up on Spotify. The show was certainly effective in making me feel like the album’s release can’t come soon enough.
Despite the concert's theatrics and multiple ritzy set changes, her magnetism alone was more than enough to keep the crowd fully enraptured. She seemed incredibly at ease on stage, treating the arena like it was an intimate jazz club. When she did crowdwork, her warm laughter and conversational tone somehow made you feel like you were sharing an inside joke despite being in such an impersonal venue.
Even more impressive than her ability to make the audience laugh in the cavernous space was her ability to command the audience’s undivided attention during serious moments. Midway through the show the curtain closed on the stage behind Raye, leaving her perched at her piano alone at the front of the stage. She turned to the audience and announced that the next song, ‘Ice Cream Man.’ is one she often struggles to get through while performing. The crowd, which had been buzzing just moments before, listened in reverent silence as she shared her experience with sexual assault before delivering a passionate rallying cry of support for survivors. Raye urged the audience to never let anyone else’s actions ruin their views of themselves, their bodies, or the world around them. The audience exploded into applause as she prepared to play, but as the song went on the sounds of faint sniffles let me know that I wasn’t alone in my misty eyed response to the performance. Though the band returned to the stage for the second half of the concert, the few stripped-down songs Raye performed alone at the piano struck a powerful chord with the crowd.
Following this interlude, the show returned to its theatrical and generally upbeat tone. She playful handled the variance within her own discography, switching from her jazzy recent releases to her dance pop hits without missing a beat. Near the end of the show, large letters spelling her name lit up on stage behind her, until the Y dropped out to be replaced by the letter V. Raye joyfully told the crowd it was now the “rave” section of the show before launching into her song ‘secrets’, jumping along with the audience as the beat dropped. The next few songs featured plenty of moody flashing lights and the majority of the crowd on their feet, pumping their arms in the air and dancing. While nowhere near an actual rave, it was a cute but effective way to handle the tonal difference between some of her older and newer work.
The magic of the concert felt perfectly encapsulated by the final song of the set before the encore. The dark backdrop of the rave portion of the show gave way to the image of a sunny, blue sky as her band descended from their risers to stand with her near the front of the stage. Raye announced to the crowd that despite this being an unreleased song, she wanted the crowd to join in as we picked up on it. The song, called ‘Joy’, was infectious and soon the venue was full of the sounds of the audience singing and clapping along. As she sang, Raye was joined on stage by her sisters, who each got their own moment to shine on a solo as Raye beamed at them. The smiles on the faces of the band, and on the faces of Amma, Absolutely, and Raye only seemed to grow wider and more delighted as the song went along.
The tour, as promised, had contained new music, and the new music, as promised, had contained hope. As I drifted out of the Hydro amidst the crowd of the other satisfied concert-goers, this hopefulness seemed to proliferate out with us back into the streets of Glasgow.