Gig Review: Hayley Williams At The Roundhouse

Six years after her cancelled debut solo tour, Hayley Williams returned to London with a cathartic and deeply personal performance that transformed the Roundhouse into a place of collective release.

It’s been a long-awaited six years for a Hayley Williams solo tour. First announced and cancelled due to Covid in 2020, myself and fans alike have been anxiously awaiting the moment the singer would tour her solo material - if ever. Paramore’s 2023 return with This Is Why certainly muddied the waters, but in the three years that have passed since the band’s sixth studio album, audiences have been graced with Williams’ third solo record and subsequent tour for Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party. 

Divisively booked for two nights at The Roundhouse in Camden, the 3,000 capacity venue left fans fighting in Ticketmaster queues of over 18,000, selling out both dates within hours of tickets going on sale. Even the day of, hopeful fans waited outside the venue or in nearby pubs with handmade signs pleading for tickets to the sold-out show, a lucky few eventually making it in. Openers Tiberius B and Water From Your Eyes set the mood well, with buzzy guitars, understated vocals, and an overall relaxed yet lively demeanor. The energy in the room itself was bright and buoyant as fans eagerly awaited Williams’ arrival on stage. 

Donning an aviator hat with goggles, vibrant red eyeshadow with a sheer burgundy mini skirt, white Björk tee, and an electric guitar in hand, Williams opened the sold-out show with the frenetic, buzzy ‘Mirtazapine’ and spacey ‘Showbiz.’ It wasn’t until the guitar was set aside that the full breadth of Williams’ magnetic stage presence was unleashed. An instant mood shift from the more solemn, daydreamy first quarter of the setlist, ‘Ice In My OJ’ ignited the audience with an electricifying energy that almost made it hard to hear Williams’ own vocals. Screaming into a megaphone attached to her mic (“I’m in a band!”), scattered ransom-note-esque scribblings of her name were projected onto the white sheets of her backdrop as she flexed and posed. Falling to her knees before headbanging to the chorus of ‘Hard,’ the energy and sheer presence Williams brings to the stage that, aisde from her remarkable vocal abilities, is truly captivating. She has a hypnotic talent for making the night feel special and unique, connecting with audiences on a level I have rarely seen in an artist before. From commissioning fans to design her merchandise and ensuring they get a percentage of the profit to having actually reasonably priced tickets, it has been apparent throughout this album release that Williams has a genuine care and connection with her fans - going as far as to greet and chat to an audience member she recognized from the last time she performed in London with Paramore.

Arguably her most emotionally transparent and vulnerable work to date, the raw and heart-wrenching lyricism of Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party were even more affecting from the sheer presence that is Hayley Williams live on stage, her small adlibs and raspy vocal runs bewitchingly commanding. One of the highlights of the night was her transition from the most poignant track on the record, ‘True Believer,’ into a cover of Nina Simone’s ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.’ Sitting at a cloth-covered piano, Williams’ ghostly wailing as the lights flashed and faded around her was nothing short of chill-inducing. But that wasn’t her only cover of the night. Bringing out Romy of The xx to the stage, the two covered Prefab Sprout’s ‘Wild Horses,’ with Wet Leg’s Rhian too making a special appearance the next night. It’s hard to say just how many audience members recognized Romy, let alone the song, but people’s happiness to be there overrode their confusion before Hayley quickly segued into the next song, gleefully shouting, “Let’s groove, London!” as ‘Good Ol’ Days’ kicked off. And groove we did. 

There was nothing quite like the atmosphere in the venue when the show closed with the lush and lively ‘Parachute.’ In spite of being the encore closer, the audience was at their loudest the instant the raucous drum thumps and frenetic guitar strums signaled the start of the fan-favorite track. Despite their enthusiastic chants throughout, it was during the song’s second verse that screams were at their most deafening. Eyes shut, shouting at the top of their lungs, with hands in the air, the mood in the venue felt contagiously cathartic. It was a communal purging of emotions, an almost spiritual release of people’s personal problems, individual experiences, and grief, emotionally amplified by not just Williams’ on-stage performance but by the sheer explosive energy that was in that room. 

With all the build-up that was a Hayley Williams solo show over the past six years, it’s unsurprising that the pop-punk icon and one of this generation's finest female vocalists showed up and showed out for her first of two sold-out nights in London. Williams brought to the stage her characteristic fiery grooves, powerfully resonant, emotive vocals, and arrestingly hypnotic charisma honed during her time in Paramore, turning the Roundhouse into a place of emotionally transcendent communal worship that without a doubt ensured I’ll continue wanting to be a fraction as cool as Hayley Williams for yet another decade.