Ray’s Review – A dazzling display of a range of old-fashioned Vegas dances to European dance | opinion

HeyIn the medley poster for this tour, Rae pledged that her concerts would feature everything from dramatic endings to jazz via a nightclub segment, a brass band, and “musical medicine for the needy.”

New music is also promised. Ahead of her upcoming album This Music May Contain Hope, she teased its contents from the beginning with the song “I Will Overcome.” Dressed in a long faux fur coat, leather gloves and sunglasses, Rae looks like a film noir heroine with song as her soundtrack: she begins with third-person narration but switches to singing as the character she has created. When the curtain comes down, it reveals a massive band that launches into the exciting, infectious funk of “Where Is My Husband!”. Ray and her singers reappear in shimmering red dresses, creating an atmosphere of elegance and glamor reminiscent of old-school Vegas, before thunderous drums, brass and strings collide with the theatrical heaviness of a James Bond score. It’s the beginning so huge that it’s like the end. “I’m fully into my dramatic era,” Ray declares.

Although the show is big, bold and emphatic, it is also intimate. The stage turns into a small jazz club at one point as Ray performs a fun cover of “Fly Me to the Moon.” There are many mood shifts too, from the neo-soul grooves of Susan, to the heartbreaking piano ballad of the Ice Cream Man, about sexual violence.

The nightclub portion — where Ray’s sign turns into a sign that says Rave — is entirely dedicated to the giddy release. She veers home on “You Don’t Know Me,” then leans more into joyful dancing to Prada. New song, Joy, is a celebration of emotion, fusing full-band disco and 60s soul. It’s a testament to Rae’s skills as a singer, and her formidable band, that she can switch gears so seamlessly, transforming the vast arena from a whispery tune one moment to a Europop dance party the next.

It delivers a knockout version of Escapism for an encore and the massive band roars one final time to shattering effect, largely setting up its dramatic era.