Tate McRae Brought The Energy To A Sold Out 9:30 Club
Date: March 27th, 2022
Venue: 9:30 Club
Washington, DC
What’s up, everyone! Derek here, a.k.a. The Photographic Ginger and I’m back again with another incredible night of music in our nation’s capital at one of the area’s most iconic venues, the 9:30 Club for a show featuring one of pop’s most up and coming women in music, Tate McRae. She first danced into the spotlight on season 13 of So You Think You Can Dance and from there took to YouTube to share her songwriting and singing abilities which shortly after led to a record deal and now an upcoming debut album releasing on May 27th, 2022.
To get the night started was an artist who has recently skyrocketed to fame thanks to her catchy single and even more recently her debut EP. I was super excited when I learned that musician and social media star GAYLE was being added to the lineup for the evening. If you’re asking yourself “who is gayle?,” chances are you’ve heard her music recently as “abcdefu” has made its way onto almost every airwave.
GAYLE is much more than just a one-hit-wonder though, she’s an incredible personality and an outstanding songwriter at just 17 years old. Beyond her hit song, she performed a few others from her EP a study of the human experience volume one with songs such as “luv starved” and “ur just horny.” Although she’s just begun touring, she’s proven she’s one to watch as she holds the crowd in the palm of her hand and even handles a broken guitar string with ease.
Up next was another artist making her musical debut by visiting the states for the very first time. At the age of 21, Mimi Webb broke into the spotlight in the spring of 2020 as her music began to spread across the internet. In fact, the first song of her set featured one of those breakout singles with “Before I Go.” After she checked in with the crowd and received very audible excitement, the set continued, performing more songs such as “24/5” and “Dumb Love.” Soon after, fans of all ages joined in for a sing-along to a song that Webb mentioned got her through a lot after coming to LA for the first time three years ago. That song is Sam Smith’s “I’m Not the Only One.” Closing out her time in DC she got the crowd jumping to her latest single “House on Fire.”
The time had then arrived for the main act of the evening. As the lights dimmed, “T8” signage illuminated in the background, and Tate and her entourage of dancers took to the stage. Instantly they all burst into song and synchronized choreography with “stupid” and “r u ok.” She then went on to take us back to her musical origins on YouTube with the stripped-down song that is “One Day.” Following that beautiful moment was another song that McRae wrote back in the tenth grade about looking at someone as more than a friend with “that way.”
Taking a moment to connect even more with the crowd that was already beyond excited to be in her presence, she sat down on the stage and dawned a pink cowboy hat and accompanied by an acoustic guitar performed a cover of The Script’s “Breakeven.” Then the journey of love and its heartbreaks continued with “wish i loved you in the 90s” and “feel like shit.”
Before the evening drew to a close, we got a preview of an unreleased song that will be on her upcoming album i used to think i could fly releasing on May 27th. The song we got to hear was called “I’m So Gone” and has some strong potential to be on the charts later this year. Her final three songs were some of her biggest, starting with the energetic “rubberband” then the most recent single “she’s all i wanna be” before closing out the night with “you broke me first.”
McRae’s tour continues in the US through April before going international. She’ll then return to the states this fall as she joins Shawn Mendes on tour. Make sure to check out the dates and grab your tickets now.
If you happened to capture any shots of the night, feel free to tag us on social media at Shutter 16 Magazine and throw in #Shutter16 and #TwitFromThePit for the world to see.
