RAYE may have narrowly missed out on the 2023 Mercury Prize for her debut My 21st Century Blues, but her sweep of six BRIT Awards the following year more than confirmed her as one of Britain’s brightest stars. At All Points East, it was clear that many had come solely for her — one festivalgoer summed up the mood, declaring, “RAYE’s the new Amy.”
The day’s bill was strong, with FKA Twigs, Jade, and Tyla setting the stage. Jade — making her first solo festival appearance since Little Mix — pulled in a crowd so huge it drained the other tents, proving her star power is intact. Tyla, meanwhile, cemented her status as South Africa’s first global pop star, introducing amapiano rhythms and unrelenting energy to the festival.
When RAYE finally arrived, shoeless but resplendent in a formal pink dress, she looked every inch the headliner. Backed by a full band and orchestra, she opened with “Oscar Winning Tears,” immediately commanding the park. By the time she reached the brassy new track “Where The Hell Is My Husband?”, hands were in the air and the crowd was hers. Trumpets once again stole the spotlight during “Suzanne,” her collaboration with Mark Ronson.
The beauty of a RAYE performance is her refusal to be boxed in. She flipped between moods and genres with ease — from the Spanish-guitar-laced swagger of “Flip a Switch. / Decline” to a blues-tinged “Mary Jane,” where she reframed addiction not as vice, but as anything that fails to serve you. She bared her wit and warmth too, taking time to calculate an audience member’s age before launching into a powerful cover of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” pointedly reminding the crowd, “this world would be nothing without a woman.”
The night’s most poignant moment came with “Ice Cream Man,” where RAYE opened up about sexual assault and survival, defiantly calling herself “a very fucking strong woman.” It was a raw, unflinching moment that silenced and unified 50,000 people.
But this was no sombre affair. RAYE cleverly split the set with a “nightclub section,” shifting gears into a swinging take on “You Don’t Know Me” with Jax Jones, a sleek run through “Secrets,” and the techno-driven “Prada.” Her range — from jazz inflections to club bangers — felt effortless.
Throughout, she made time to connect with her audience, joking about the clouds of dust rising from the park, or acknowledging pain with “I Know You’re Hurting.” That balance of humour, empathy, and sheer musical versatility underlined why she’s become one of the most important voices of her generation.
Like Amy Winehouse before her, RAYE is a BRIT School graduate who has captured the zeitgeist. But at All Points East she proved she’s carving her own lane entirely: vulnerable yet defiant, polished yet raw, and capable of uniting thousands through both pain and joy. This was more than a festival headline slot — it was the arrival of a generational talent with much more still to give.
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