In 2017, it’s very rare that you come across an artist whose live performance is able to capture an audience so well that almost everyone in the room puts their phone away.
No Snapchatting, Tweeting, or Instagram stories just pure dancing and smiles. Last Monday night, Raleigh Ritchie did exactly that. New York City’s Bowery Ballroom was a mash up of energetic head banging and slow swaying as Raleigh Ritchie performed versatile hits from his album You’re a Man Now Boy and past EP’s.
The floor was practically shaking while Raleigh performed his smash hit “Never Say Die,” a unique mixture of a soulfully sweet melody with a trap like beat to back it up. Raleigh’s energy filled up the room as he danced around stage, the audience chanted “Never say die” at every beat drop.
However, Raleigh was able to effortlessly switch between genres and channel the crowd’s energy into a unified slow bounce as he performed the perfect gravely-voiced summertime song “Stay Inside.” The performance was amazing and moving. An example of his complete control over the audience was when he told the crowd to “show me your best shower dance,” and audience members happily obliged by cutting loose.
Never before have I attended a concert with such an overwhelming feeling of good vibes and camaraderie. Total strangers joined in lip-synching duets to songs like “Stronger Than Ever” and joined in on hugging and high-fiving after Raleigh announced that, “This last song is all about friendship, so if you’re with your people, I want you to just catch each other’s eyes if you know what I mean. And just be like ‘yeah, yeah we love each other.’ But some of you may not be with your people so what I’m going to do is I want everyone to high five someone they don’t know.”
After a full set of love and good vibes, it seemed only right that he ended the night with an encore performance and a little motivation for subway ride home, “I’m from a place called Bristol and I moved to London when I was 12 and it scared the sh*t out of me and it did bad things to my brain but I wrote songs and I felt better about myself, and I’m here now. And I’m pretty sure all of you spent your hard earned money to come here and hang out together, so thank you very much genuinely, I f– with you heavy.”
