- Music
- 31 Aug 19
Adele had better start looking to her laurels...
"She's the posh Adele," the bloke next to me says to his girlfriend and he has a point. You could also describe Freya Ridings as Florence Welsh on steroids, a belter outerer of massive, piano-driven pop songs which have already made her a Spotify sensation. The opening 'Love Is Fine' is sung back to her with such gusto by the full-ish Electric Arena crowd that she audibly gasps halfway through.
Good daughter that she is, 'You Mean The World To Me' is dedicated to her Mum back home in London. The performance is so big it only needs some gently strummed guitar for accompaniment.
The bombastic (in a good way) 'Poison', which makes full use of her impressive four-piece band, sounds like Ridings is auditioning for the next Bond theme.
Chain listened to by the 25-year-old during a particularly messy breakup, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 'Maps' is transformed into an everything including the kitchen sink ballad that fully justifies those Adele comparisons.
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While a little too emotionally gale force nine for this reviewer, Ridings does what she does with such passion and sincerity it's hard not to be won over. The next time she's in Stradbally it'll probably be as a headliner.