Ryan Beatty @ Alexandra Palace
Ryan Beatty’s first London show was full of astonishing musicianship, dampened only by delays, poor choice of venue and an un-devoted crowd.
I was hoping to introduce my concert review series, Reporting Live, with a little happier music but unfortunately, American singer-songwriter Ryan Beatty’s first London headline show was not all home-runs. With long delays, poor choice of venue and a confusing crowd, it would’ve taken a mammoth effort to transport us to a musical heaven. Though I did get a glimpse of those melodic, pearly gates, I left feeling frustrated and tired. But it wasn’t all bad – let’s get into it.
I arrived at Alexandra Palace around 6:15pm for 6:30pm Doors, which is usually a bit earlier than I like to aim for but I wanted a good spot – all this time believing that the concert was in Ally Pally’s Great Hall. When I arrived, I quickly realised that was not quite the case. Beatty’s performance would be taking place in the charming, but weathered, Victorian Theatre to the side. That slight disappointment aside, we entered the theatre and took our places for the show. With no opener (and an advertised start time of 7pm on the Ally Pally website) I figured things would get moving rather shortly.
Oh, how I wish that was the case. As the hours ticked by, the momentum in the crowd dwindled and waned, with groups deciding to sit and rest their legs. The girls next to me even started playing Heads Up, looking up every time a song from the pre-show playlist would finish only to return to the more pressing game at hand. At around 8:45pm, the lights finally dimmed and the show began.
I hadn’t been to The Theatre at Ally Pally before, but knowing that Ryan performs most of his set sitting down, the lack of a sloped floor worried me from the get-go. Unfortunately my worries were only compounded as I spent a good portion of the set craning my neck and standing on my tip-toes to get a glimpse of our alt king.
But enough whining! Let’s discuss who we all came here to see – Ryan. WOW! Though there was little acknowledgement of the delays, he wasted no time getting into his stunning discography, opening with ‘Ribbons’ from his 2023 album Calico. With simple accompaniment (from just upright piano and guitar), Ryan began his sweet serenade – much to the joy of the crowd who sang its anthemic refrain ‘It’s out of my hands, what can I tell you? I’m not losing it / I’m just having a laugh.’ He took us through a few more tracks from Calico before a brief trip down memory lane. I was completely surprised to hear him sing my favourite song ‘Backseat’ from his sophomore album, Dreaming of David, but it did make me sad how few in the crowd knew these deep cuts.
Speaking about these older songs Ryan said that, ‘unrequited love was something I romanticised so much… now it’s nice to have someone to sing these songs about’, which got a cheerful round of applause from the crowd. I was soooo excited to hear ‘Cupid’ from his debut, Boy in Jeans, after seeing this video from the US dates last month and it did not disappoint!! Though ‘Haircut’ was cut from the setlist due to the limited band, the transition into ‘Powerslide’ was still just as stunning. He also sang ‘Casino’ from Dreaming of David, which gave the band a bit more room to jam and boy, did they jam! The lighting set up for this as well really utilised the romanticism of this old theatre, spotlighting its vaulted ceilings with dots of pink and purple.
The highlight of the set for me was hearing him sing my favourite song of his, ‘Hunter’ from Calico, though these drunk girls kept talking about her hammered they were during it which made me want to become a hunter myself. But luckily this song is so beautiful and meditative that I could slip back into its breezy sway between their comments.
The encore was a particularly stellar moment as well, due in part to his cover of Vincent by Don McLean (more commonly known as ‘Starry Starry Night’) before going into an absolutely stunning cover of ‘Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?’ by Dolly Parton. The resounding applause from the latter made Beatty emotional, a nice display of gratitude from a somewhat ‘reclusive’ artist, usually out of the public eye.
Rounding off the encore with Calico’s closing track, ‘Little Faith’, Ryan and the band did their bows and the show was over. Luckily, due to the smaller capacity of the venue, getting back to the station was easy and I was home before I knew it. All in all, it was a spectacular show but I wish all of the exterior factors could’ve been better. It’s still strange to me that he didn’t play a better, similar capacity venue like the Hammersmith Apollo or KOKO. But look, I’ll give credit where credit is due – Ryan and his band were absolutely spectacular and I hope they felt the love. Until next time, this has been Reporting Live. Thanks for reading.
