EYVE @ The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 28 Jul
The possibilities feel endless for Glasgow-based artist EYVE, who manages to pull in a near-capacity crowd to The Hug & Pint's basement
EYVE has the difficult task of headlining The Hug & Pint on one of the sunniest nights that Glasgow has seen in weeks. Nearby beer gardens on Great Western Road are heaving. Pulling in a near-capacity crowd at an event in a windowless basement on a night like this is no mean feat, and a testament to the quality on the bill.
The show is part of the venue's endless summer programme – a two month-long batch of gigs across July and August, primarily showcasing emerging local acts. On this night, the crowd are treated to an all-female lineup kicked off by Chelsea Keir, who has an easy stage presence and shades of Lauryn Hill in her musical stylings. Hannah Berry is up next, performing a poppy collection of feelings-forward songs over driving beats. Hot on the heels of an EP release, the young songwriter is accompanied by her brother on drums.
But the star of the evening is headliner EYVE, the Zimbabwean-born Glasgow resident whose star quality is undeniable. Performing in less-than-ideal circumstances, without her keyboard she makes do with a laptop for backing music. It’s an inconvenience she is apologetic about but it does little to diminish the quality of the set. Mainly because the show itself really resides in EYVE’s own stage presence and extraordinary vocal range.
The bulk of her setlist is pulled from her 2024 EP Sista! Beyond the Sky Isn’t the Limit. She is by turns tender and confessional in her introductions to the songs, revealing the real-life scene at Pride which formed the basis of the power hip-hop of Went and Lost My Mind ('Oh my god, I’ve done it again / I lost my mind in front of a lot of strangers'), as well as the motivation behind the menacing R'n'B of Gotta go (to therapy). Later she’s a cheerful rabble rouser, pushing the audience to dance more and get into the groove of her more upbeat tracks such as Can’t Touch This and Um, Indecisive. There is so much to enjoy about EYVE as a performer, you get the sense that, as her EP title suggests, the possibilities for her really are endless.