Live Review: MAY-A

Ioakim plays his first-ever show for us tonight and despite a few nerves to begin, he performs as if he’s been doing this for a long time. Starting off with his latest release passion, we instantly feel the nostalgic indie-pop vibes from the late 2000s as he manages to recreate a sound that’s similar to likes of Passion Pit, Phoenix and MGMT but with his own unique spin. Ioakim creates swirling synths combined with euphoric melodies to transport us back to a past summertime with his catchy feel-good jam swimming pools. Pic by Joshua Braybrook

Carla Wehbe struts out on stage with a cowboy outfit complete with a hat and matching jacket. She quickly grabs our attention with her huge pop melodies packed full of emotional pressure points. With her raw lyricism and soothing vocals, it’s hard not to be captivated by her striking music. She encourages the crowd to help her sing along to the chorus of her second song on the setlist, Somebody Loves You, and we connect with every bit of her energy with an edgy ‘80s soundtrack. 

To mix up her set, Wehbe throws in a few very different and some even surprising covers that she pulls off flawlessly, including Crowded House’s Fall At Your Feet, Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag and a punk-rock version of Abba’s Dancing Queen. She brings it down for an acoustic song she started writing the other day which isn’t finished yet but is really promising. We hear a new song that’s set to be her new single and she brings the energy levels right back up for her most popular song hurts to love you, to round out her performance on a huge high note.

Pic by Joshua Braybrook

MAY-A brings her authentic, confident and carefree attitude to the stage with an energetic pace from the get-go. The crowd is super excited and jumps around with her as she sets off with Time I Love To Waste. Tonight is a celebration of her first EP Don’t Kiss Your Friends, which debuted last year and it’s clear everyone here tonight has had it on repeat ever since. Spring-boarding off her YouTube success, MAY-A is on a fast trajectory with her down-to-earth indie pop music. 

With only a handful of songs released to date, she road-tests a few new tracks that are more dreamy bittersweet anthems with a big rock vibe to shake up the stage. She has great chemistry with her band, and they feed off each other’s energy to keep raising the bar. 

Wehbe joins in for a verse of Swing Of Things before MAY-A brings it down for an intimate and warm performance of Daffodils. Having recently returned from playing Coachella with Flume, which was a huge experience, she’s pumped to bring the collaboration to the small stage tonight with an alt-rock version of Say Nothing and it’s a real highlight.

Finishing up with Apricots and Central Station, MAY-A gives us a final reminder of why she’s such a relatable artist that people can connect as she shares intimate moments of her honest diary entries about relationships, heartbreak and finding her identity which is something we can all resonate with.

Pic by Joshua Braybrook