On Thursday, Oct. 31, Tinashe made a stop at The Ritz, a music venue in Raleigh, for her Match My Freak World Tour. With the crowd decked out in their Halloween costumes, Tinashe put on a lively performance to give the crowd an epic Halloween night.
The soulful and genre-bending singer Raveena opened for Tinashe at 7 p.m. A fog machine filled the room with smoke, the stage lighting had a hazy glow that rippled across the weeping willow tree set up on the right of the stage.
Dawning bunny ears, Raveena began her performance with her song “If Only.” Her instrumentalist was also in costume, dressed as Shego. Her soft and soulful vocals, combined with the weeping willow tree, created a wistful atmosphere for the audience to sway to the music.
Raveena maintained a strong performance throughout her set, engaging the crowd with her strong stage presence. Even people who are unfamiliar with her songs could still enjoy her performance with her lively vocals and gentle tone.
Raveena showed her musical talents not only through her voice but through her skills on the guitar and piano. She performed a rendition of “Kehna Hi Kya” from the movie “Bombay” and incorporated a spin on Indian fusion dance style with strong melodic hand movements and floorwork. She sang the song in Hindi, introducing a major non-Indian crowd to a non-Western style of singing, one with beautiful harmonies and high notes.
Then, Raveena took the time to talk to the audience about her gratitude for performing with Tinashe. “I want to thank Tinashe for having me on this tour. One of the reasons I love this pairing is because we both have some similar 90s RNB influences,” she proclaimed, “one of them being Aaliyah, so I wanted to pay homage to Aaliyah tonight with ‘At Your Best.” Her soulful interpretation of Aaliyah’s song led the crowd into an eruption of cheers.
For Raveena’s final song “Rise,” she dedicated it to the oppressed people in Palestine and asked the audience to listen to the importance of the lyrics as she played the piano during the performance. The crowd raised their phone lights as she passionately sang the lyrics: “Rise up every morning.”
Once Raveena’s set was over, she thanked the crowd and exited the stage with loud applause. There was a slight intermission to remove Raveena’s set and set the stage with Tinashe’s visuals, which included several security camera trees and a large LCD screen.
Once again, the fog machine started up and the LCD screen flashed with Tinashe’s intro video set to “Nasty-Match my Peak Remix.” The crowd erupted in cheers as the screen flashed with pictures of Tinashe and the words “Match My Freak World Tour.”
Tinashe burst onto the stage and opened her performance with “Getting No Sleep.” She adorned an all-red outfit with a devil-horned balaclava, and she was accompanied by male backup dancers in all white. Her energy filled the room as the crowd screamed along to the lyrics. Essential to a Tinashe concert, there were plenty of dance breaks where she would dance alongside her backup dancers.
Tinashe transitioned into her song “When I Get You Alone” while the screen flashed seductive silhouettes matching her dance moves. She showed more of her enticing moves during her songs “Needs” and “Link Up.”
When she played her song “Bouncin’,” Tinashe encouraged everyone to let loose and jump: “This ‘Halloweekend’ energy is lit; thank you guys so much for coming out!” she screamed over the crowd’s enthusiasm, “Let’s keep this energy going! When I count to three, I wanna see everybody in this room bouncin’, I wanna see y’all losing your minds!”
In true Tinashe fashion, she seamlessly transitioned from a high-energy club song to a slower, soulful mood with her song “Bouncin’, Pt. 2.” One of her backup dancers came out with a camera that cast to the large screen. The dancer captured Tinashe’s singing and her seductive dancing with another backup dancer. She ended the song by kissing the camera then exited the stage for a quick break.
When Tinashe returned, she performed “Thirsty” in front of visuals of water on the big screen. When the whole stage was illuminated with red light, the crowd screamed in anticipation for her song “Red Flags.”
During the brief intermission, Tinashe quickly changed into a black baseball cap with devil horns. She played her song “Zoom” to keep the crowd engaged during the break and accompanied it with visuals of her swaying with the song on the big screen.
She returned to sing “The Worst In Me” while sitting on an elevated part of the stage with her backup dancers. She then got up and sang a soulful intro as the music transitioned into her song “Save Room For Us.” She beautifully sang the high notes and transitioned into her more energetic song, “Throw A Fit,” as the crowd screamed along to the lyrics.
Tinashe’s backup dancers filled a quick intermission with a dance circle to keep the energy flowing. One dancer even took their tank top off, twirling it in the air amid loud screams. Tinashe came back and followed up on the high energy with her songs “Talk To Me Nice” and “X.” The crowd showed their excitement by crossing their arms, making an “x,” while she sang her song of the same name.
Tinashe dedicated her next two songs to her older fans, singing a remixed version of “All Hands on Deck” and “2 On.” As the parental advisory logo flashed on the big screen behind her, she encouraged the crowd to sing along with her to “2 On,” which elicited loud screams in response.
“SHY GUY” and a background video of Tinashe played while she took another short break. Then, the screen displayed a live video of her singing “Cross That Line” as she walked up from backstage. Her backup dancer turned a camera to the crowd, garnering screams as people saw themselves on the big screen.
Tinashe followed up “Cross That Line” with a sultry performance of “Uh Huh,” which then transitioned to “Gravity,” where she belted out angelic vocals for the chorus. She teased her song “Superlove” within her performance of “Gravity,” singing Superlove’s chorus over Gravity’s instrumentals.
“All My Friends” played in the background, and a video of fun moments from Tinashe’s Instagram played on the screen while she made her final outfit change. She returned wearing a letterman-style jacket to perform a remix of “No Broke Boys” before leaving for the final intermission. The song “Nasty-Match My Chic Remix” played while her dancer freestyled to the music.
For her last song, Tinashe performed her hit single “Nasty.” She incorporated plenty of high-energy dancing and twerking as the crowd screamed along to the provocative lyrics. She closed the show by sharing her gratitude to the crowd and left with an eruption of cheers.
Tinashe gave a high-energy performance from start to end, using her upbeat club music as an opportunity to incorporate choreography while also performing her slower music with beautiful vocals. Tinashe showcased her duality as an artist and provided an amazing experience for those who have been fans since “2 On” and those who only recently discovered her. Her choice of Raveena to open the show gave the perfect music pairing for an all-around memorable experience.
Check out songs by Tinashe and Raveena in the playlist below!
