with Harpy and Witch Fever
Reviewed by Louisa Tomson
Cassyette embarked on her headline tour for her new album ‘This World Fu**ing Sucks’ with a show in Leicester at the O2 Academy2 on 10th April. She recently opened for the insanely successful Bring Me The Horizon on their UK tour and brought that same energy to Leicester. Cassyette was accompanied by Harpy, a goth pop/emo solo artist, and Witch Fever, a punk metal four-piece, who together, really got the crowd pumped.
Harpy the self-proclaimed ‘goth metal mommy’ opened with her intense heartfelt vocals and screaming – her voice reminding me of Amy Lee. With deep lyricism and stage presence at this point of her career, she is already excelling into stardom. She captivated the crowd with her dancing and, although alone on stage, still got the crowd pumped.
She finished her set with Slaughterhouse, her most well-known song that was featured on BBC Introducing. The crowd loved this track, chanting along to ‘you love me cos it’s so disgusting’ with all their energy. It looks like she already has a cult following so we will most likely be seeing her on her own headlining tour in the future.
Witch Fever were the second opener, a four-piece consisting of Amy, Alex, Annabelle and Alisha. Their style is more reminiscent of punk than Harpy but still with heavy passionate vocals. Each song has themes and ideologies of empowerment, singing about condemnation of expectations placed on us by society. They opened with Blessed be Thy (their latest track), featuring heavy guitar riffs and distorted bass lines.
Many heads were moving in unison as the crowd connected with the strum of each note. They also sang Reincarnate, a song from 2021, where lead singer Amy jumped off the stage and down to the barrier, showcasing her fu** you energy to the patriarchy.
The female empowerment was clear in this line up of acts … and now it was time for Cassyette.
Cassyette came onto the stage and opened with Ipecac, from her latest album This World Fu**ing Sucks, which is due for release in August. This was a great showcase for her Nu-Metal sound with powerful deep raspy vocals and growls.
Her voice reminded me of Pink, but darker and with edgy undertones. Her second song had the crowd chanting back the chorus ‘You make me sick’ with the room coming alive every time it was sung. She then went into Die hate cry, a minute-long growling performance building the crowd and encouraging them to open a pit and mosh. But there was no time to catch breath as she then went into songs from her 2022 release Sad girl Summer. This included anthemic pop rock tracks Like it like that and September Rain, a song she explained is about embracing your true selves. This one is a cult classic and had the whole crowd singing. During the song she asked for everyone to create a wall of hugs, creating a beautiful and harmonizing moment in the set.
The final half of the show featured songs from 2021 which helped start her career and ignite her success. These nostalgic songs include Petrichor – a very personal one, about navigating grief and loss – and Poison purse. It was commendable to see Cassyette sing about such vulnerable topics, and from the crowd’s reaction you could see many people connected with this.
Cassyette’s ability to create a connection with her audience is what truly sets her apart from others. This was demonstrated during her show and really brought fans together throughout her performance. When introducing Got friends in low places (a song on her new album which is yet to be released), she made a speech about the importance of having people around you in your darkest times. Her show was the perfect place to do that, and she encouraged anyone to seek help whenever they needed it.
A key moment towards the end of the show was Why am I like this, one of her latest singles from her upcoming album. This was a dancy but midtempo song that evolves into a ballad-like chorus and builds towards the end. It created great crowd participation as she came down from the stage to sing directly with her adoring fans holding their hands.
Unfortunately, every show must end, but Cassyette finished on her smash hit Dear Goth which is currently sitting at over 7,000,000 streams on Spotify (making it her most-played song). It was the perfect energetic finale.
The show featured some incredible upcoming artists all of which had a unique style and powerful stage presence which won’t be forgotten.
The music of Harpy and Witch Fever packed a punch which will bring fans back to watch their future endeavors.
Cassyette herself delivered an exciting, passionate and high-energy experience that got the blood pumping, as well as an emotional and impactful one which got fans truly involved with her story. I will most definitely be seeing her again, and watching her career progress.
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