“It’s always been my dream to play this festival, but I didn’t think we would start off on the main stage with all these people here,” RAYE tells the packed crowd at Reading 2023. “This is fucking crazy.”
It’s been an immense year since the Camden singer shared her emotionally raw debut album ‘My 21st Century Blues’. So far, she’s sold out London’s iconic O2 arena and made history after taking home a record-breaking six trophies at the 2024 BRIT Awards. It’s a pretty impressive feat, given her battle to re-establish herself as an independent artist in recent years.
However, with her set at Reading today (August 24), the singer is adamant that this isn’t the time for looking back at past struggles but rather embracing the joy that follows when you overcome them. “I’m going to take you through some different motions in this set, and we’ll have some good times. I promise,” she says at the start.
For any artist, making a festival debut on the main stage is a challenging feat. But while some could shrink away when placed in front of a crowd of thousands, for RAYE, the platform immediately feels like a second home. It’s clear from when she launches the set with ‘Flip A Switch’, and her powerful vocals just about manage to cut through the eruption of applause.
Ironically, it turns out that the track the singer is most apologetic for today ultimately becomes the poignant moment of the set. “I hope it’s OK with you that I play one sad song, just one,” she says, introducing ‘Ice Cream Man’ – the soul-bearing track she wrote to document her experience of sexual assault. “I promised myself when I became an independent artist I wanted to make honest music. I wanted to make music that was honest to the things that I’d been through.”
By this point, the heartfelt aspects of RAYE’s performance have become an almost integral part of her on-stage presence. This time around though, tracks like ‘Body Dysmorphia’ and ‘Mary Jane’ are left out, instead substituted for more of an uplifting feel. An Afrobeats version of ‘Bed’ – which she shared back in 2021 with Joel Corry and David Guetta – instead brings the energy to the set, as do dance-imbued renditions of ‘You Don’t Know Me’, ‘Prada’ and ‘Escapism’.
A huge wave of success has followed since RAYE shared her debut album last year, and now, given her slot at Reading alone, it is clear that all of those milestones only mark the beginning of her story. From delivering heartfelt sentiments to dazzling the crowd with her powerhouse vocals, as far as festival debuts go, it’ll be hard for anyone to reach the same heights as this.
RAYE played:
‘Flip A Switch.’
‘Decline’
‘Worth It.’
‘Genesis’
‘Ice Cream Man.’
‘Bed’
‘You Don’t Know Me’ (Jax Jones song)
‘Secrets’
‘Black Mascara.’
‘Prada’
‘Escapism’
Follow all of the action as it happens on the NME Reading & Leeds liveblog here.
Check back here for the latest news, reviews, photos, interview and more from Reading 2024.