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Review: Jess Glynne and Raye at the Brighton Centr...

Review: Jess Glynne and Raye at the Brighton Centre

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Brighton Centre to catch up with Raye after her performance supporting Jess Glynne on the Take Me Home tour. You’ll be forgiven if you are not already aware of Raye but the 19 year old from south London is quickly making a name for herself. Only a matter of hours after the show Raye was named as one of the BBC Sound of 2017 artists.

The venue must have been near capacity for Raye’s performance and the crowd were extremely receptive to the newcomer. She treated the crowd to a selection of tracks including the infectious ‘I, U, Us‘ and her collaboration with Jonas Blue ‘By Your Side.’

I notice a couple just in front of me who had their phones out and were subscribing to Raye on Apple Music. I’m sure that they were not the only new fans she picked up after that performance. You will be able to read my interview with the lady herself on Strong Island later this week so keep an eye out!

After an interval the lights eventually went down and those still at the bar hurried back with their drinks. After a short intro from the band, Jess was unveiled to the crowd as she rose up from beneath the stage. Gleaming in her flared jumpsuit Jess went straight into a rendition of ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself.’ It was during this that the pyro cannons went off and filled the air with silver confetti. It is surprising how it manages to get everywhere; I was still finding them on me long after I got home.

Next up Jess treated the crowd to ‘Rather Be,’ the collaboration with Clean Bandit led to a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording of 2015. Quite an achievement as the previous winners include the likes of Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Daft Punk and Justin Timberlake.

Framed within three dominating portrait screens at the back of the stage were some beautiful graphics. Designed by the Fray Studio, the graphics centred around ink, oil, marble patterns as well as home video of Jess and her band. These complimented the performance well without distracting from what was happening onstage.

Once I’d finished with my photography duties, I escaped to the periphery of the crowd. This gave me a good vantage point and wherever I looked the crowd could be seen dancing and singing along to tracks like ‘Love Me’ and ‘Real Love’ which was then mixed into CeCe Peniston’s 90’s chart hit ‘Finally.’ Jess ended things with ‘Hold My Hand‘ and she left the exuberant crowd wanting more. I gotta be honest the girl has got an impressive set of lungs on her and put on a superb show.

For further listings on upcoming events at the Brighton Centre check out their website www.brightoncentre.co.uk.


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