RY X by Kate Scott
Y'know the phrase "it was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop"? At RY X's sold out Thalia Hall show, the crowd was completely silent and mesmerized by his performance. In between his beautiful lyrics and soft, mellow instrumentals, you could hear the ice clinking in the glass next to you. Ry Cumming, aka
RY X, didn't move around the stage at all. He didn't say much, and he didn't cause a ton of uproarious applause. However, the deliberate silence in the room was part of the performance; RY X's show was meaningful, emotional, and powerful.
RY X by Kate Scott
The show was originally meant to be an 'in the round' performance, meaning a small stage would be crafted in the middle of the room. However, due to the number of tickets sold, fans had to gather at the front of Thalia Hall's stage instead. One huge benefit to this was that the stage lighting was incredibly dramatic and fit the show perfectly. For most of the night, RY X was only bathed in soft orange light from a one or two spotlights. RY X opened the show with "Sweat", a melancholy track from his first album,
Dawn. His melodic voice drew everyone in immediately.
RY X by Kate Scott
Careful not to lull the crowd to sleep, RY X and his accompanying band also played some more upbeat and electronic songs. "YaYaYa" had a more exciting sound, and the crowd seemed more comfortable with singing along and interacting with RY X than before. The Australian singer-songwriter didn't talk much in between songs, which nor only added to his quiet demeanor but also left room for more music. When the show was at its end, the crowd clamored for RY X to come back onstage and sing an encore. He graciously returned and played "Only", a low-energy yet hopeful track. As people slowly filed out of Thalia Hall that night, many seemed lost in thought. It was clear that RY X's commanding performance really struck a chord with the crowd.
RY X by Kate Scott
RY X will be touring throughout Europe this summer. Tickets for his shows can be found HERE.
