Leeds is sparkling. Of course, we’re in the run-up to Christmas, so the lights are going up and people are beginning to feel festive. But if you make your way up to the O2 Academy, you’ll find a particularly glittery corner of the city, as the queue of teenage girls fizzes with excitement at the prospect of seeing Freya Skye.
Inside, the fervour continues. Friendships are made among the tightly packed crowd on the venue floor, while the queue for merch upstairs snakes for miles as fans wait for pieces from the city’s exclusive collection (in Leeds, it’s a golden owl patch). There’s almost no need for a support act to warm the crowd up, as they sing along at the top of their voices to songs from Olivia Dean, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles.
Alex Sampson is the support, though, and he’s greeted with screams as he takes the stage. The Canadian singer-songwriter and AGT finalist gives a polished performance, full of beaming smiles and charm, perfectly pitched for this audience. It’s certainly enough to keep the crowd on their toes as they wait for the final touches to be put to the stage for Freya to make her entrance.
As the lights go down, the band take the stage and, following some teasers of the songs that will follow, Freya Skye emerges on top of the huge white platform, sparkling in blue, to deafening cheers and screams. She moves powerfully straight into Can’t Fake It, accompanied by the voices of over 2,000 fans.
At 17, Freya is already an accomplished entertainer, with Junior Eurovision and the Disney ecosystem behind her, and that experience shows. From start to finish, it’s a very polished performance. From the vocals and staging to the stories, it’s a complete and well-thought-out show. There’s none of the awkwardness that you sometimes see between songs from younger, less experienced artists. Each song segues cleanly into the next, with a well-practised story or chat in between.
There are some lovely moments when we’re reminded that Freya Skye is still just a teenager living her dream. The platform from which she emerged rotates to reveal a cosy bedroom-studio set, a nod to how she started. She settles in with two of the band – Donnie and Anna – and delivers Maybe Tomorrow and a really heartfelt version of Who I Thought I Knew.
Someone To Love brings out the best in her vocal range, with a soaring close to the song, and the crowd gets louder still, virtually roaring the lyrics back at her. It’s a chance for the band to shine, too, with Donnie Laudicina shredding a solo while Freya heads off for a costume change.
Re-emerging in black, we’re treated to the recent single Bad Taste before heading into a section of games with the crowd. While most of the between-song moments are seamless, this feels a little contrived. But the fans don’t really care as we cycle through a couple of games of rock-paper-scissors in return for snippets of songs chosen by the audience.
This all buys time, though, for the set change. As the centrepiece revolves again, it reveals a baby grand piano where the studio had been, and Freya settles in behind it to deliver the ode to her hometown, London.
The set crescendos with My Own Way (from the Disney Zombies film franchise), Petty and Gold’s Gone. She’s got the room at fever pitch as she skips off backstage before re-emerging for Silent Treatment, wearing what has become a signature jacket for this tour, adorned with patches from each of the cities she’s visited on this leg of the Stars Align tour.
It’s an excellent show, but an even better atmosphere, and that seems to be something that Skye and her team work hard to accomplish. Young fans have sung their hearts out, swapped bracelets and made new friends. Now, as they walk gleefully into the chilly night outside, they’re already replaying their favourite moments to each other.
It’s the sort of thing that fills your heart up. Many will be at their first concert; some perhaps have been there before. One thing is for sure, though: they won’t forget that rush of pure joy and adrenaline that being in a room like that delivers.
Set list:
Can’t Fake It
Golden Boy
Walk Over
Why’d You Have to Call
Maybe Tomorrow
Who I Thought I Knew
Someone To Love
Bad Taste
London
effortless (unreleased)
My Own Way
Petty
Gold’s Gone
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Silent Treatment
Words: Huw Williams
Photos: Santiago Hernandez (supplied)
