Over the past year, Rae Morris has been slowly but surely making a name for herself in the music industry.
The 23 year old songstress released her debut album, Unguarded, back in January of this year. The album peaked at number 9 in the UK chart, and brought Rae to the public’s attention. Unguarded was very strong for a debut album. It features 12 tracks of Rae’s distinctive piano-led pop, some including a twist of folk, others much more pop-oriented.
And now Rae is off on her own headline tour, riding on the success of Unguarded. In her own words, she’s only ever dreamed of a tour as big as this, so to make it become reality is a massive accomplishment for her. And it really shows – it’s clear to see how much it means to Rae, which makes the tour only more special.
another unforgettable evening. Cambridge was such a delicate and loving audience. thank you xxxx @… https://t.co/jZYoXR1vEB
— Rae Morris (@raemorrismusic) October 7, 2015
Cambridge Junction is a fairly intimate music venue, allowing fans to get up close and personal with artists. It’s the perfect contrast to the glut of massive arena tours dominating the music industry at the moment. It also showcases talent like Rae’s perfectly.
Support came in the form of Dan Owen, followed by Roo Panes. Singer-songwriter Dan Owens got the night off to a brilliant start. His last song was especially memorable as he transformed into a one-man band, playing the guitar, bass drum and harmonica as well as singing all at once. The second support act, Roo Panes, kept on building the atmosphere. Singer/guitarist Roo Panes was joined by a cellist, forming an intriguing duo to play songs from their classic folk-pop repertoire.
Folk-pop songstress
By the time Rae Morris came on, the crowd were more than ready to see the main act of the night. Rae came on stage to plenty of applause, launching straight into her track ‘Skin’. Clad in a bold, patterned jumpsuit and with her trademark curls set free, she was every inch the picture of a folk-pop songstress at the top of her game.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYgXSoA5njA]The show continued with hit after hit from Unguarded, plus a rendition of ‘Up Again’, the track she wrote for electronic group Clean Bandit. The more upbeat numbers seemed to be the biggest hits with the audience, with songs like ‘Under The Shadows’ getting people moving and dancing along to the music. However, a personal highlight of mine was Rae’s moving performance of the emotional track ‘Don’t Go’, which has recently been re-released for the breast cancer charity ‘CoppaFeel!’.
My only criticism is that the set was quite short, especially when compared to the extensive sets of some other artists. Perhaps this was due to the high level of organisation – everything started and finished on time, and there was no messing about on the production front. To be honest it was a nice change to attend a gig where everything did run smoothly for once! It could also be down to the fact that Rae (as she admits herself) isn’t much of a talker between songs. Either way, it was still an enjoyable show and a great evening.
Rae is still out on tour; you can find a list of all her upcoming tour dates here.
Are you a fan of Rae Morris? Let us know in the comments below!
