RAYE shines in Montreux
Posted in thoughts
For the third consecutive year, RAYE shined last night at the Montreux Jazz Festival. This year, she was the star of the opening of the 60th anniversary of the festival, and had carte blanche to organise the evening. Her previous Montreux performances in 2024 and 2025 on the Scène du Lac were amazing, but this time was maybe her most ambitious appearance yet.
Back to the Auditorium Stravinski
The venue was jammed packed. The concert had to be postponed to give a chance to everyone to get in. The concert was in the newly refurbished 2m2c Montreux Music Convention Center which slowly turned into chaos in the hour preceding the show.
This came as a surprise, Montreux being Montreux. Clear signage was lacking, and people were queuing up all over the place, spiralling through and around the main hall, and support staff were at a loss during to lack of communication. People started to be granted access to the Auditorium Stravinski 45 minutes before the show was due to start, which with security was cutting it short.
More surprising was that this brand new refurbished venue was displaying other signs of wear and tear as overflowing or lack of water in the toilets, and this on multiple floors. The paint hadn't completely dried, and the plumbing was failing on the opening evening of the festival (sic!).
Worse, not everyone got in despite the announcements pleading the crowd to take a step forward, the doors stayed open with many people watching from hallway.
Rotating stage
The reconfigured stage was a slowly rotating disk symbolising a Watch face (it was the Audemars Piguet evening…) turning the whole set around. We had seats on the auditorium stage, only a couple of meters away from the set.
It sounds an interesting idea on paper. For a concert built around intimacy and storytelling, giving every section of the audience a turn facing the performers sounds fair. But RAYE isn't just a singer—she communicates constantly. Much of what makes her performances special is the eye contact, facial expressions, and the way she speaks between songs (and she's a bit of a chatterbox).
We spent long stretches looking at her back, loosing a substantial part of the performance. The screens projected on the curtains above were out-of-sync with the live audio, adding to the frustration.
This said, our seats also created an unusual trade-off. Being on stage, right next to the band, was fascinating from a musical perspective. We could appreciate details in the arrangements and watch musicians interacting in a way most of the audience couldn't. But it came at the expense of the connection with the artist herself.
Top class musicianship
The musicianship of her band (20 musicians!) and arrangements, seamlessly moving between jazz, soul, R&B and pop was stunning, and RAYE’s vocal performance, was technically astonishing while remaining emotionally vulnerable. She mentioned several times how she and her musicians were nervous, but boy was she infallible.
Her guest appearances were Mark Ronson after she launched into Uptown Funk, performing their collaboration Suzanne, and later, Alicia Keys appeared on stage, drawing one of the loudest reactions of the evening.
Alicia Keys gave the impression she was really enjoying the shared moment. Alicia Keys sat down at the piano and performed her signature song If I Ain't Got You, with RAYE joining her on vocals. It was the first time they'd performed together live. They then stayed on stage for a duet of one of RAYE's Oscar Winning Tears, with Alicia accompanying on piano and harmonies.
Remarkable covers
The concert was designed as a journey through six decades of music, and in between her own songs, RAYE performed a number of covers of James Brown, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, and Prince with her remarkable ability to inhabit their songs without turning them into impressions.
Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine was a completely different energy, Georgia on My Mind or Summertime fit naturally with her jazz background. Purple Rain must be incredibly difficult because audiences inevitably compare it to Prince. She didn't try to out-Prince Prince; she brought her own soul and vocal control.
Her two sisters, Amma and Absolutely, joined her on the title Joy (I was sure they would after listening to her interview with Zane Lowe) in a burst of energy. Love it.
As she prepares to leave the stage, a fan reminds her that she has forgotten Click Clack Symphony . No problem. She improvises with her musicians and adds the song to the setlist (for real?--could be, as back stage they scrambled to change guitars).
She concluded the evening in apotheosis with Where Is My Husband! (or course).
I love live shows
I feel RAYE's live experience surpasses what video can capture. You need to be there to experience it. Moreover, the combination of the room, the acoustics of the Stravinski are great, the expanded arrangements, and the surprise guests made it a special night. Will she be back next year?
RAYE's concert will be broadcasted, on RTS1 on July 5 at 22:30, then on ARTE on July 6 at 22:30.
The concert will then be available for one year on ARTE Concert, ARTE.tv and Play Switzerland, as well as on the Festival's YouTube channel.
