Live Review: Tate McRae / Alexander 23 – The Academy, Dublin 17.06.2022

On Friday, the 17^th of June, Canadian singer songwriter Tate McRae took to the stage of Dublin’s Academy, with support from American artist Alexander 23.

The Middle Abbey Street venue’s doors opened at 7pm, but, by then a massive queue had formed all the way down the street with eager fans queuing hours in advance to see their idol.

The night’s proceedings kicked off at 8pm with a 25-minute acoustic set from Alexander 23, making his Dublin debut, only two days after announcing his debut album ‘Aftershock’, out July 15^th. Alexander performed a mix of both released and unreleased music, such as ‘Somebody’s Nobody’, along with impromptu covers of Harry Style’s ‘As It Was’, and One Direction’s ‘Night Changes’ laced within, which, of course, caused for huge cheers and loud singalongs.

Alexander Glantz, or Alexander 23, teased at an upcoming Dublin date, saying “how would you guys feel if I was to come back here in the fall?”, which if that’s the case, sign me up! He then said how he was going to be outside the venue afterwards if anyone wanted to say hi, or to take a photo.

A personal highlight of his set for me, was his latest single ‘The Hardest Part’, a song about losing a friend. As he played the song, you could feel the room get colder, goosebumps all around. One fan in particular, stood at the barrier, was visibly upset during this song, and so, following the performance, Alexander 23 jumped off the stage and gave her a hug.

He finished his set with ‘IDK You Yet’, his biggest song, with over 350 million streams on Spotify.

He came offstage and went straight into the pit, taking photos, signing autographs, and speaking with those at the barrier for a solid 15-20 minutes, all while the stage was being changed over for Tate McRae.

If, true to his word, Glantz goes on tour, I’d highly recommend going to see him. I know I’ll definitely be going to Dublin if I get the chance.

At 9pm, Tate McRae came onstage to her song ‘Stupid’ backed up by her team of three incredible dancers: Stevie Doré, Kerrynton Jones, and Findlay McConnell. The energy in the room could be felt. And this energy unfortunately turned into extreme heat, which caused several in the crowd to feel faint, with two fans requiring to be lifted over the barrier by security within the first three songs.

Thankfully, all throughout the concert, the staff of The Academy were on hand to give out cups of water to try help those dancing along, in what seemed to be a sweatbox of a venue, with McRae herself on stage saying, “wow it’s like so hot in here.”

Tate played through a 14-song setlist, made up of older songs such as 2017’s ‘One Day’, and 2019’s ‘All My Friends Are Fake’, up to her more recent songs, such as those from her May 2022 debut album ‘I Used to Think I Could Fly’.

During the show, McRae mentioned how great Alexander 23 was on support, and how they actually wrote together for her album, and so she brought him up onstage for an acoustic sat down version ‘Boy X’, with Alexander on guitar.

Tate, as well as being an amazing singer, is also a trained dancer, coming third in Fox’s ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, when she was only 13. This dance experience and talent was very clear throughout the show as McRae found herself in what looked to be complicated choreography and doing so without batting an eyelid. An amazing all-round performer.

The show finished at 10pm, only an hour after McRae came onstage, with her 2020 hit song ‘You Broke Me First’, a single which is close to a billion streams. This song was had the crowd singing along to every word, with the chorus being sung by one of the loudest crowds I’ve ever heard in this Dublin venue.

Despite it being a shorter set that I’d have imagined, or possibly hoped for, Tate McRae put on one of the most energetic performances I’ve seen in a long time. She didn’t let the ridiculously hot room get to her, and neither did the dancers, or the amazing band she had behind her onstage. Even those in attendance who may not have known many of her songs found themselves dancing along or singing bits they recognised. It’s not every performer who can put on such a great show for the younger crowd, the older crowd, and everyone in between, but Tate McRae did just that. A great night all together.

Stream Tate McRae’s debut album ‘I Used to Think I Could Fly’ here