Co-op Live, Manchester
Switching from noirish drama to funk stomps, neo-soul to showgirl glamour, this is a big, bold show from a singer who has entered her ‘dramatic era’
On the variety show-style poster for this tour, Raye pledged her gigs would contain everything from dramatic endings to a jazz cover via a nightclub segment, a brass band, and “musical medicine for those in need”.
She also promised new music. Ahead of her forthcoming album This Music May Contain Hope, she teases its contents from the off, with I Will Overcome. Raye is in a long fake fur coat, leather gloves and sunglasses, looking like the lead from a film noir with the song as its soundtrack: she begins with third-person narration but switches into singing as the character she’s created. When the curtain drops, it reveals a huge band that launches into the rousing and infectious funk stomp of Where Is My Husband!. Raye and her singers reappear in sparkling red dresses, creating an air of elegance and glamour reminiscent of old school Vegas, before thundering drums, brass and strings collide with the theatrical heft of a James Bond number. It’s a beginning so huge that it resembles a finale. “I’ve fully entered my dramatic era,” Raye declares.
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