As APESHIT’s pogoing Atari-bassline bounced around the walls of Electric Brixton in the earliest moments of Bree Runway’s headline show, the crowd swiftly took the wheel. Without missing a syllable, the room yelled every last word of the opener from her debut mixtape 2000AND4EVA as the Hackney star held her microphone aloft and soaked in the scene.
When Runway played London last year a similar response left her visibly gobsmacked, while the tiny venue could barely contain her poise and talent. Since then, the singer, rapper and songwriter has been shortlisted for the BRITs Rising Star award, and Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall was among the thousand-odd lucky punters in the house on Monday night.
Raised on the playful saturation of noughties pop videos that aired on MTV, and the squalling riffs of Kiss and System of a Down, there’s plenty of the same theatre and versatility at the giddy core of Runway’s show; a leather-clad production bringing to mind Grace Jones’ hair-fringed outfits and Christina Aguilera’s Dirrty music video in equal measure.
Bolstered by thumping live drums, latest single Pressure was packed with fierce, choreography-rich breakdowns, and during Big Racks – from the 2019 debut EP Be Runway – she hung from the side-stage lights, nonchalantly surveying the crowd. After the hulking pop-trap of GUCCI gave way to a stuttering outro, a troupe of dancers used their hands to fan Runway as if she were a Roman emperor.
As delicious as this excess was, it was not all we saw on the night. “There’s this album that everybody wants from this girl called Bree Runway…” she told the crowd, dangling the prospect of her long-awaited debut record. The artist spoke of wanting to show a softer, more reflective facet – a “lover girl side”– before airing an appropriate new song, Somebody Like You. Twinkling phone lights swayed along to Runway’s flawless vocals, as crashing, power-ballad drums made way for an enormous, yowling yacht-rock guitar solo. That was swiftly followed by a curveball cover of Love/Paranoia from Tame Impala’s 2015 psychedelic synth-pop album Currents.
With a rapid-fire setlist, Runway’s show was short but effortlessly refined, racing through euphoric, energy-filled renditions of mixtape standouts ATM, ROLLS ROYCE and All Night before welcoming Drag Race UK alum and resident lip-synch assassin Tayce to the stage for the jubilant, confetti-strewn closer HOT HOT.
Bringing the bold ambition of a full-scale pop production to the intimate surroundings of the venue, Bree Runway truly feels like a superstar-in-waiting by now.
