Nuha Ruby Ra live review: a captivating display of modern musical witchcraft
Wednesday night always feels like a decent night for a gig – a nice mid-week treat that makes it feel as though the weekend has come early. I’d been hoping to catch Nuha Ruby Ra perform again ever since finding myself captivated by her set at Wide Awake Festival last year. Luckily, she announced a small run of UK shows back in January, which I quickly pencilled into my diary.
So, after grabbing food with my friend, we headed over to Headrow House in Leeds City Centre, one of the most essential and beloved drinking spots in the area, which also offers a small gig space. There’s hardly much of a backstage area, with bandmembers often swanning in and out of the crowd, adjoining smoking area, and downstairs bars, making gigs at Headrow House feel considerably more intimate than many other venues I’ve been to.
After we trudged up to the terrace to enjoy some drinks with our friends, queuing behind Ra herself at the bar, we headed into the main room to catch Leeds’ newcomers Slick Cage. The crowd was admittedly sparse, but hey, it was only 8pm, and unfortunately, the reality is many people don’t bother to show up for the first support band – especially one they’ve never heard of. Despite the lack of faces looking back at them, they gave the set (their second outing as a group) everything they had, treating us to a cover of ‘House of Jealous Lovers’ by The Rapture.
Unfortunately, the crowd failed to grow much bigger for the next support act, Pope Bunny, either. As a drum was pummelled with full ferocity and a guitar was essentially attacked, those who had bothered to get their fill of early weekend anticipation were dancing and moving, proving that it’s not necessarily the size of the crowd that makes it.
After seeing clips on Ra’s Instagram Story of the first night of her tour, which saw her performing to an eager, packed-out audience, I was secretly hoping that a mass of fans were going to miraculously walk through the door at the last minute. Instead, the number of bodies remained incredibly small, leaving me feeling incredibly disappointed on Ra’s behalf. But, alas, that is the nature of touring, it seems. Some nights, the size of the crowd might be double that of the one before – you just have to wait and see.
Yet, once Ra stepped on stage and blew a few passionate breaths into a horn instrument, all of my concerns melted away. Everyone in this crowd was clearly a massive fan of Ra, and we gathered close to the stage as though the singer was someone to worship and congregate for – emphasised by the singular candle burning next to her. As I looked around, there wasn’t a still member of the crowd. If people weren’t dancing, moving their arms and hips in time to the synths or striking outbursts of guitar, then people were nodding their heads or singing along.
This was one of the most intimate gigs I’ve ever been to. I felt privy to something incredibly special, and as Ra delivered a flawless set, starting with the playful ‘Sparky’, I danced with my friend, floating and turning, joining hands and singing the words to each other.
Ra had a small camera mounted above the stage, which projected onto a screen behind her, mirroring her every move. With each song, she delivered a powerful performance accompanied by fluid movements and a captivating sense of simmering confidence. As she sang words such as “God how I’ve grown to hate guitars/ And every prick that holds one,” her guitarist struck a menacing riff, creating an intense and enveloping atmosphere that demanded we fully immerse ourselves in this spiritual and sacred experience.
Perhaps the people of Leeds simply aren’t too familiar with Ra’s music because the size of the audience was hardly indicative of her astounding talent. I appreciated the intimacy of the gig for what it was – a moment to revel in the performance of an artist whose name will swiftly be rising up the ranks of festival lineup posters if she continues to put on shows as breathtaking as this. I knew Ra was going to be good, but I’ve not been able to think about the atmosphere she created all morning, wishing I could be back there dancing under the bright red flashing lights.
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