6th November 2023
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On saturday 8th November I went to see Rianne Downey play at Arts club. Having not heard of her before the gig, I did my research and listened to her new album ‘The Consequence of Love’ on deezer. The album combines elements of pop with country folk music, I really enjoyed listening to this and found watching her perform really brought her music to life.
The support act for the night was Amelia Coburn, who has a European folk music sound that is often accompanied with lyrics of the gothic theme. Originally from Middlesborough, Amelia played originals such as ‘sleepy town’ describing her love-hate relationship with the small town she grew up in. She even got us to clap along to the beat, something which had somewhat backfired in a preivous gig when she’d asked someone in the front row to stop, since it was so off time she thought it was a joke. With that in mind I was a little nervous, knowing I’m not the most rhythmic person, and found myself just copying along with my friend who was a music student, and therefore annoyingly on beat. The songs themselves were impressive, and her vocal range to be envied, but I was excited to hear Rianne.
Having come fresh off the train to the gig, I was slightly regretting my choice to sign myself up to cover this event. But once she came on, I forgot my tiredness and was transported to somewhere in the scottish glen, swaying along with the rest of the audience.
Rianne came on to loud cheers from the audience, and instantly won the crowd over with her declaration of love for Liverpool. Downey grew up in Glasgow, but claimed that she truly found her place in Liverpool declaring it as her home away from home. This led to someone in the audience calling out ‘this is your home now.’ She then cheersed us all with a glass of prosecco at hand, and launched into her songs.
Before each song was played she gave us some background to its creation, which I found helped me to connect more to the music, especially as a fairly new listener. She described herself as away with the fairies a lot, a sentiment reflected in the etheral folkish music of ‘The song of old-glencoe.’ This song you can imagine being played in an old-style tavern in the middle of the wilderness. Or perhaps in a fantasy adventure movie, as the main characters cross the scottish glen and wilderness, leaving home behind for the first time, but discovering themselves along the way. People began to sway around me and sing along to this, further adding to the cosy tavern feel of the music. Her stage presence was captivating, the drum, a beating along of her heart and her voice transporting us to this wild land.
Her next song, the title of the album ‘The consequence of Love’, although written about the loss of her granny could be applied to any ending of love, the lyrics vague enough to apply to individual experience. It’s a moving song that laments losing one that you love, I surprised myself with how emotional this made me, talking of the denial of seeing the one you love fade away before your eyes. As she says ‘nothing prepares you for losing the one that you love.’ A paradox of the love for the person still existing but the outlet for it gone, she pours her leftover love into this song and as someone from the audience shouted ‘thank god for your wee granny.’ To which she laughed and the intensity of the moment was lifted.
For the final song she played ‘Good at Goodbyes’, my favourite song on the album, and as soon as it came on led me to whisper excitedly to my friend I was hoping she’d play this. As the final song was playing I noticed that her tech guy and tour manager were dancing to each other from opposite sides of the stage, and copying one anothers moves. This moment of friendship that I happened to catch, made me smile to see them enjoying the performance as much as we were. The song talks of growing up and moving on, something that in her own interview she says this is the advice she’d most likely give to uni students. A rising chorus of ‘find the good in goodbye’ that drilled in the postives of change, something that I could defintiely do to remember more.
All in all an enjoyable night out that I would recommend.
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