Photo Credit:
Words: Cara Clarke
“As long as our hearts are still beating and our lungs are still breathing we are technically, Sheffield, undefeated.”
Donned in a deep sea blue, Freya Ridings took to the stage in Sheffield as part of her ‘Mother of Pearl’ tour at Sheffield City Hall.
Crowds showed up early for support act Bea, widely recognisable by her social media handle @beaandherbizness, who began her set around 8pm accompanied by musician Gabriel Holland, kicking off with the lively tones of Bea’s 2024 hit ‘safety net’.
Also featured were tracks ‘Falling out of Love’, ‘Delicate as fuck’, ‘Never know Love’, ‘Born to be alive’ and finally ‘Rich’ which recently took off online after finding its place in the soundtrack of the recent book adaption ‘Off Campus’.
Bea treated the audience to an unreleased song that’s been doing the rounds on tiktok called ‘Peter Pan Syndrome’ a relatable slowed down track which according to Bea is about ‘dating men in the 21st century’.
I think Bea’s set pre – empted Freya’s well, outside of sharing themes with Freya’s setlist (e.g. toxic friendships) Bea’s vocals are similarly deep and rich, perfect for filling out the Opal Hall. Additionally, Bea presents a cheeky lilt and liveliness which balances out the pending emotional devastation of Freya’s set.
By 9pm the hall filled out as Freya took up the piano delving straight into the haunting melody of ‘Weekends’ from her 2023 album ‘Blood Orange’. Performing with only her piano as accompaniment Freya’s voice really took the spotlight echoing throughout the Hall.
This was Freya’s first time headlining at Sheffield City Hall having previously performed there only as a support act for Ray LaMontagne in 2018, she said: “It’s such an honour to be back here in Sheffield after all these years I just remember thinking if I could ever headline here it would be unreal”.
Moving into the ‘Mother of Pearl’ set Freya began with ‘Euphoria’ working her way through the rest of the album. On a whole it was a strong performance, Freya brought an honest confidence to the stage as she sang about grief, love and hard times; ultimately painting the picture of someone who was fighting back after a lifetime of resilience.
Whilst some of the tracks in ‘Mother of Pearl’ felt a bit similar when performed live, ‘Undefeated’, ‘Wild Horse’ and ‘Strength in me’ stood out the most, largely because of their heavy tempos and strong vocals. These songs were really made to be performed in theatre halls.
Leading into ‘Undefeated’ Freya addressed the crowd again, she said; “It’s quite a heavy time to be alive right now, I know so many people going through the hardest times of their lives.
“As long as our hearts are still beating and our lungs are still breathing we are technically, Sheffield, undefeated.”
‘Wild Horse’ in particular was a personal favourite. It’s common knowledge that Freya has an incredible voice, which manages to sound even better live, but ‘Wild Horse’ took it to a heightened level showing off Freya’s voice, speeding up the tempo and hitting riff after riff.
The ‘Mother of Pearl’ setlist is a soulful one clearly marked by hardship, which is characteristic to Freya’s music, this was cleverly balanced out by the appearance of singer and songwriter Ewan J. Philips, Freya’s husband, who joined her onstage as guitar and backing vocals for ‘Dancing in the Kitchen’ . A song which was described by Freya as the ‘wildcard song of the album’. Freya took up the ukulele in favour of the piano for this one offering a more chilled out beat and lighthearted tone to break up the set.
In the final 20 minutes Freya disappeared offstage but soon returned for the encore which featured her single ‘Waking up’ as well as tracks from the original ‘Freya Ridings’ album ‘Blackout’,‘Ultraviolet’, ‘Castles’ and of course the iconic ‘Lost Without You‘. Because would it even be a Freya Ridings show without it?
‘Lost without you’ came across as a heartfelt moment for both the audience and for Freya who prefaced the song by saying that it ‘truly humbles’ her when she plays it.
She said: “I always like to dedicate this song to anybody who has lost somebody that they truly love” asking the audience to hold up their torches if they could relate which resulted in a sea of lights.
All in all it was a good show. If you’re a fan of Freya’s music it’s definitely worth seeing her live, the music feels much deeper and comes to life in a really beautiful way that you just don’t get with streaming. My only point of note would be that some of the songs felt quite similar in format and style, in that it was easy to predict what was coming next. However, don’t let this deter you, she is really worth the watch!
