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Mar 25, 2023 By Adam Houghton Photography by Adam Houghton Web Exclusive

Scotland has produced many excellent singer/songwriters over the years, Annie Lennox, KT Tunstall, Elizabeth Fraser to name a few, but now there’s a new name to be added to the burgeoning list - Rianne Downey.

The rise of Rianne Downey has been nothing short of amazing, From waking at 6am as to grab the best busking spots in Glasgow city centre to lockdown streams during Covid to releasing her debut album to being championed by Steve Lamacq is a testament to her hard work.

Performing to a sell out Mancunian crowd, Rianne, resplendent in full Fred Perry attire, opened her set with her 2021 debut release, “Stand My Ground”, which certainly got the sell out crowd warmed up. Shades of Adele can be heard in “Come What May”, then followed a new track from her already sold out album, Dancing In The Rain. The acoustic set opened with “Start Again”. The room was silent, but then, as a nod to Manchester and remembering the last time she played in the city, a solo redition of James’ “Sit Down” which had the whole room singing. Rianne proclaimed her love for Manchester and Manchester proclaimed its love for her right back. Her newly released track, “Songbird” followed, a song written in dedication to her gran who was present and dancing in the balcony.

To finish the set, came arguably the best three tracks. “Hard”, which is getting a fair amount of airplay on 6 Music is followed by “Home” - written about her home city - has the crowd singing it back to her word for word, it’s certainly the anthem as a clearly tearful Rianne tried to hold it together, Then the final track, “Alright”, a stomping, live fan-favourite brought the curtain down with the crowd begging for more.

Rianne Downey’s trajectory is on an upward path right now. The final date of her tour is on Saturday at the legendary King Tut’s. This will be the last time we’ll see her in such an intimate venue, as next time the venues will be much bigger.