The 32-year-old singer-songwriter finished the first leg of her Hold The Girl tour with an evening of unforgettable moments.
The Hold The Girl singer, Miss Rina Slaywayama, smashed yet another performance - leaving her fans speechless and exhausted from how much energy they put into singing and dancing along with her.
The O2 Brixton Academy was turned into another LGBT community centre for Rina, who promised a journey from “some dancing, then some crying, and then some slaying.” No truer words could have been spoken. Right from the start the crowd was singing along perfectly, building up the energy as they danced their cares away.
During a section of high adrenaline songs we saw some amazing choreography to accompany ‘Imagining’ and ‘Frankenstein’ - stunning her whole audience as well as helping to showcase her fabulous dancers.
After the crescendo of energy following ‘Holy (Til You Let Me Go)’ and ‘Bad Friend’, she perched herself on a stool to sing her latest queer ballad. ‘Send My Love To John’, equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking, serenaded us all with comfort and affection.
She didn’t keep the mood down for long, though. For a slay worthy third act we enjoyed a party version of ‘LUCID’: there were no fancy extras here, just Rina and her fans together in the moment. It was followed up with the anthemic ‘Beg For You’, though sadly without an appearance from queen Charli XCX.
Rina’s show would not be complete without playing the hits from her self-titled debut. ‘Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys)’ and ‘XS’ were met with as much enthusiasm as if they’d only just been released, and ramped up the energy for one last return to Hold The Girl: ‘This Hell’. Rina split Brixton in two for this iconic final hoedown: half of us had our “invitation to eternal damnation”; the other wanted you to “get in line [and] pass the wine, bitch.”
With a perfect ending to a show that will definitely be talked about for years, it is only a matter of time until we see Miss Sawayama headlining arenas such as the O2 and singing to tens of thousands with her timeless music.
Cover image taken by Caitlin Chatterton.
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