REVIEW: Pop-rockstar Dylan and girl group Say Now deliver anthems at Cambridge gig | CPT PPP Coverage

Cryptopolytech (CPT) Public Press Pass (PPP)
News of the Day COVERAGE

200000048 – World Newser
•| #People |•| #World |•| #Online |•| #Media |•| #Outlet |

View more Headlines & Breaking News here, as covered by cryptopolytech.com

With a sparkly guitar hanging around her neck, the Sussex-born world-touring musician kicks off the Cambridge leg of her Rebel Child tour with the foot-stomping stadium-sized song of the same name.

The golden sun-like strobes build the atmosphere, while the riff-offs she has with her guitarist Axl Rosie, both of them stood on platforms, are electrifying.

Considering the only other musician on stage is the drummer (Phil Collin), their often-heavy sound fills the room.

Hick-kicking her way across the stage, her real star power is impressed on everyone present.

Early highlight ‘Girl Of Your Dreams’ showcases Dylan’s powerful vocal while she gets everyone singing along and bopping.

“Are you gonna be the loudest crowd on tour,” she asks, though she didn’t need to judging by the reaction that follows for the next hour.

It seems like the venue is full of her biggest stans, the majority of whom have spent the past few weeks learning the set list word-perfect.

‘Nineteen’s song structure and the pulsing synths of ‘The Alibi’ could easily feature on a Taylor Swift album, and it’s not hard to imagine Dylan being called up to join her Eras tour.

“I don’t want you to sing with me, I want you to scream in my face,” Dylan teases after revealing that she’s recovering from a recent chest infection. It’s impossible to tell, however.

Her vocal is flawless and she doesn’t refrain from any high notes. Meanwhile, songs like ‘Every Heart But Mine’ unite the audience like a choir.

After sharing a story of when she played a university ball event in the city many years ago, she performs an unreleased track from her upcoming debut album, ‘Perfect Revenge’ – another hit in waiting.

‘Liar Liar’, her recently-released collaboration with Bastille, is received like a shout-along anthem, and the angry vibes continue with the head-banging ‘Blisters’ as the lighting and stage production match the song’s intensity perfectly.

The vibe changes soon after as Dylan is handed an acoustic guitar for the love song section of the set. 

Professing her admiration for British indie band Catfish & the Bottlemen, she covers “the best love song ever”, ‘Hourglass’, to beautifully sway-along effect.

Her own sing-along earworm ‘You’re Not Harry Styles’ is the first of a perfect triple-threat finale, which concludes with a rapturous ‘No Romeo’ and ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. 

“Do us girls rule the world?” she screams, shouting out her support acts before thanking the audience for “giving me a purpose in life”. 

One of those support acts was Say Now, a trio who effortlessly throw things back to the early-2000s golden age of girl groups.

As well as nailing the vocal harmonies (particularly on ‘Better Love’), their synchronised dance routines are spot-on. 

Their individual mid-song introductions and messages of friendship, finding your own family and sacking off toxic exes resonate with the audience of mostly teenagers (and parents) too.

Sonically, they land somewhere between Little Mix (the clap-along chorus of ‘Right Here Right Now’), Sugababes and R&B trio Flo (recent single ‘S.I.N.G.L.E’).

Meanwhile, a heavenly a Capella rendition of Avril Lavigne’s ‘Complicated’ lights up the room as a thousand or so phone torches are waved in the air.

The dance-leaning breakbeats and catchy choruses that underpin their songs make it easy to imagine them finding a fanbase on TikTok.

Overall, Thursday evening at the Cambridge Corn Exchange proved that Dylan and Say Now are two of the most exciting names in music right now.