RINA SAWAYAMA – BRIGHTON DOME 23.10.22
As a resident tiny punk writer, and I don’t often go to pop gigs very often. I tend to get my fill of chart music the one night a month I actually go clubbing, and sold-out arena shows aren’t often something I’m interested in shelling out for. I used to adore these kinds of shows, though, and I will admit there’s something about the theatricality of them that I’ve really missed. Being able to sink head-first into a truly immersive high-budget musical experience is a rare treat for me, and one real expert of this type of event is Rina Sawayama.
The ever-ambitious singer is from the school of popstar that thrives on pairing substance with spectacle. She’s often cited as someone who pairs intimate lyrics with floor-filling pop bangers, and her arrival in Brighton this week didn’t herald anything less.
Sawayama didn’t just offer up a show, but a swirling multi-act extravaganza that meanders through genres effortlessly. This matches the tone of her latest album ‘Hold The Girl’, her most genre-fluid and vulnerable work yet.
After strutting out with the shamelessly Y2K-influenced ‘Minor Feelings’ and an outfit I’m fairly sure counts as quadruple denim, she announced this structure to her audience. Across the themed acts of her set, we were treated to pop-rock throwbacks, then a little electro-pop, then her more balladic tracks before a final act of only her most danceable hits.
Throughout these first two acts, nothing was held back, nothing deemed too much. Beloved tracks like ‘Hold The Girl’ and ‘Hurricanes’ already held up to their recorded versions, but wind machines and flawless backup dancers truly let the crowd dive into the extravagance of these tracks head-first. So many of the songs from these first two acts were just made to be sung live, amplified from song to classic by the audiences singing their incessantly catchy choruses back up at Sawayama. This was even true as we moved into the second act, featuring edgier tracks like ‘STFU!’ and the appropriately Halloween-y ‘Frankenstein’ alongside futuristic neon lighting.
It was act three of the show, though, where Sawayama’s range as a performer really shone. Dancing along to her flashier songs was one thing, but I wasn’t prepared for how powerful her work would be in a more stripped-back context. It wasn’t fully stripped-back, mind you; she still came out with an angelic costume change and a shimmering backdrop, showing off her showmanship at every step.
But the slightly less busy stage gave room for the beautifully woven stories of ‘Hold The Girl’ to really shine. It was in this section of the show that she explained the album’s title, opening up about her journey through therapy and learning to reparent herself, holding and protecting the little girl she once was. For fans who weren’t already tearing up at this, the ballad ‘Send My Love To John’ came swiftly after to pull at their heartstrings.
Rina Sawayama’s become something of a queer icon, attracting diverse crowds across this tour, so it wasn’t a surprise that this country ballad of a mother accepting her son’s identity and apologising for her ingrained homophobia was the tearjerker of the evening.
A further love letter to Sawayama’s LGBT+ fans came at the very end of her set. After playing her best-known tracks back to back, including a cover of her collaboration with Charli XCX, she selected the snarky yet affirming ‘This Hell’ as the song we would all dance into the night with. Its playful pop culture references and untouchably confident delivery are a straight shot of confidence, a truly infectious future classic that really did need to be seen to be believed.
Setlist:
Act 1: ‘Minor Feelings’; ‘Hold The Girl’; ‘Catch Me In The Air’; Hurricanes’
Act 2: ‘Your Age’; ‘Imagining’; ‘STFU!’; ‘Frankenstein’; ‘Holy’
Act 3: ‘Bad Friend’; ‘Send My Love To John’; ‘Phantom’; ‘To Be Alive’
Act 4: ‘Lucid’ + ‘Beg For You’; ‘Comme Des Garçons’; ‘XS’; ‘This Hell’
