Teenagers stood clutching their phones in both hands, rehearsing what they might film, or maybe just trying to steady themselves. Parents lingered near the back, half-present, half-documenting. It felt less like a typical gig and more like a first-concert rite of passage unfolding in real time. Headlining two back-to-back shows at Hoxton Hall, in the same venue where she attended some of her first concerts as a kid, Freya Skye walked out to a sold-out room of endearing fans.
The first thing that struck me about the show was the crowd. Kids as young as four sat cross-legged on the floor or leaned over the balconies, squeezing past other fans in the hope of getting a wave from their favourite singer. There wasn’t a single moment when tweens weren’t screaming along to every lyric.
Watching it happen brought me straight back to my own earliest shows, something I reflect on when thinking about my first concert in 2009, the Jonas Brothers in the flesh! There’s a kind of nervous joy that exists only at your first concert, and it filled the room before Freya even stepped onstage.
The set itself was intentionally stripped back. Acoustic arrangements. It put the focus on Freya’s voice, lyricism, and the way she connected with the audience in front of her. She spoke between songs in a way that felt genuine, acknowledging the room without trying to control it.
PC: Uchechi Adeboye
What stood out most was how present she was with the crowd. She wasn’t performing at them; she was performing with them. Songs like “silent treatment” landed differently in this setting. At only 16, Freya is in no way new to performance, the songwriter made her mark in 2022 as a contestant in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Four years later, Freya has clearly spent time honing her craft, and her recent film debut in Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires has only widened the circle of people finding their way to her music.
There was also something quietly emotional about seeing Freya perform in London, knowing this is where she’s from. In a year where her career has accelerated so quickly, this show felt grounding, like a pause before everything gets bigger. A moment to come home, and simply play.
Freya is taking this energy on the road next, heading out on sold-out her Stars Align Tour across the US and UK in February and March.
PC: Uchechi Adeboye