Following on from a hectic Summer festival schedule, knocking out a cracking rendition of the National Anthem at the recent Anthony Joshua fight and winning thousands of fans along the way, Becky Hill completes her tour of the UK’s finest arenas including Brixton Academy and as many O2 Academies that would have her! Tonight was the last night of the tour and she decided to grace Plymouth with her presence to celebrate the occasion in style.

After an incredible couple of years (not counting COVID as incredible), Becky Hill is now the 2nd most listened to British female artist on Spotify in the UK having notched up over a billion streams and 19 million+ Spotify monthly listeners. Her brand new single ‘Better Off Without You’, (written by Becky and produced by Shift K3y), is the follow up to her certified silver Summer hit ‘I Could Get Used To This’ with Weiss and was recently added to Radio 1 and Radio 2 playlists.

As I approached the venue, the queues were literally around the block, I don’t think I have ever seen this at Plymouth, I would say that the Ken Dodd Laughter Show I attended in 1978 as a child summoned as may people but I would clearly be lying! (Maybe it was Russ Abbott?!)

After a bag check and a trip to the box office to collect my photo pass, I made my way into the arena, it was great to see that so many had come early to get a good spot on the barrier to guarantee a good view of their idol.

At 8pm sharp, Richard Fairlie took to the stage and raised a few cheers as he asked if everyone was looking forward to seeing Becky Hill. Armed with what looked like a drum machine/sampler/sequencer, Richard launched into his set which comprised of upbeat R&B jams peppered with some very soulful sounds which allowed his tight falsetto vocal to float over. He interacted well with the audience and immediately got on side with them, regaling tales of a recent trip to Los Angeles where he was fortunate to watch Yungblud in action.

Later in his set, he strapped on a guitar and took things down a peg or two with some soulful guitar led tunes which the audience lapped up. With Becky Hill as a fan, the future for Richard Fairlie is looking very bright indeed, definitely an act to keep an eye on!

With the temporary backing curtain whipped away, the crowd cheered as the set for Becky Hill’s performance was on full display, a simple setup of a raised stage (for the band) surrounded by a tube like lighting structure and a couple of single podiums for Becky to use at the front. There were LED lights positioned all around the raised stage which I hoped wouldn’t be burning my retinas out as I attempted to take photos, only time would tell!

Just after 9pm, the lights dropped, up went a massive cheer and the band took their positions ready to start. Becky Hill walked out to a huge reception and launched straight into her opening track ‘Heaven on my Mind’ which had the audience singing along with her.

She took time to say hello after the first track and walked the stage, picking out people and asking them how they were and even took time to warn the mother of a couple of youngsters that there would be some colourful language dished out throughout the show.

Looking splendid in a burnt orange disco styled two piece outfit, Becky looked amazing, her confidence was incredible and to say that she ‘owned the stage’ was an understatement. How she managed to pull off a full set in those heels was unbelievable, I tried heels once, fell over and sprained my ankle, I’ll stick to trainers and Clark’s Desert boots!

She got the band to come down from the raised stage at the back and setup right on the lip, where she introduced them all (including the sound engineer and tour manager) prior to launching into a lovely stripped back version of ‘Lessons’ which sounded sublime.

For ‘Business’ she duetted with Ella Eyre on her debut album but sadly, Ella couldn’t be there to perform with her so she called upon the services of a super talented backing singer called Lovelle Hill who did a wonderful job of matching Becky’s vocal skills and together, they delivered the track perfectly, receiving a huge response from the capacity crowd come the end.

As the set came to a close, the big guns were rolled out, ‘Wish You Well’ followed ‘Better Off Without You’ which really sent the room into a frenzy and with the embers of ‘Remember’ ringing out across the arena, Becky and the band left the stage to rapturous applause.

It’s amazing to see how far Becky Hill has come from her early brush with stardom on ‘The Voice’ and whilst I would normally say that ‘talent’ is not an output from a prime time Saturday night entertainment show, I’ll have to eat my words on this occasion as clearly, Becky Hill is one super-talented lady who I am sure we will be hearing a lot more from in the future.

Words and Pictures by Steve Muscutt