Watching festival favourite and Brit award winner Becky Hill perform her headline show at the Motorpoint area in Nottingham turned a normal Tuesday into a very special night for LeftLion's Charlotte Gould...
Settling in after the incredible support acts, Catching Cairo and Charlie Boon (below), the excitement and anticipation was palpable inside the arena. As the lights dimmed and the stage started to illuminate everyone erupted into enthusiastic whoops as Becky Hill appeared on stage.
Opening with uplifting anthem True Colours, from her 2024 album Believe Me Now, which manages to balance difficult themes with an upbeat rhythm, Becky captivates the crowd as they belt every word back. Even those in the seats start to stand during her second track, anthemic club classic, Overdrive.
“Its truly a dream come true,” Becky declares as she stands on the vast stage of Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena smiling out to the crowd of almost 10,000 concert goers, all cheering her on as she visibly tears up with pride. She has performed here before with the likes of The Script, but this time she’s got her own headline show, consolidating Hill as a big name in the UK dance scene.
The crowd is as colourful as the stage lights with the multiple bedazzled cowboy hats and flashing LED hearts, hundreds of arms waving to the beat and faces full of glitter creating personal mirror balls as Hill delivers hit after hit exceptionally, including classics Back and Forth, Crazy What Love Can Do and Afterglow.
From club classics, drum n bass to piano house, Becky's runs and energy are pure passion and magnificent, exuding entertainment in each note. She also treated concert goers by bringing out RILEASA to perform One Track Mind, which is powerful, punchy and propulsive, creating a dance floor wherever you stand.
As captivating as the choreographed lights and live orchestral ensemble, Becky brings the effervescent energy many of us need to get us through these typical Tuesdays. She reminds us that whatever sort of day we have had that there is always music to get us through it – that sometimes we just need to put a banger on and have a good dance to it.
Her ability to balance both the fun and honesty makes her performances a real expression of humanity. After performing an unreleased song Lost The Plot, a promising, raw banger that holds a mirror to the music industry, Becky asks the crowd repeatedly if they like it, asking them if they are sure, showing that even after a slew of sold out arena shows a testament to her connection with the crowd through her honesty.
As the set comes to a close Hill asks, "What day is it?!" The crowd were incoherent with cheers and whoops and I guess it didn't really matter that for many it was a work or school night because in that moment we were all partying. Thousands of strangers dancing and singing along together to a mashup of Remember and My Heart Goes, suggesting we are not defined by time, but by moments. And this one was particularly magical.
Becky Hill performed at Motorpoint Arena on 15th October 2024.
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