Rianne Downey kicked off the latest leg of her “Consequence of Love” tour tonight in London and what an amazing night it was.
Rianne, 26 years old, Scottish born singer songwriter started off busking the streets of Glasgow and grew an online fanbase, her debut single was released back in 2021. She grew in prominence when she filled in for Jacqui Abbott as the singer with Paul Heaton in 2023 at the Neighbourhood Weekender festival following a health scare. They continued to work together on Paul’s 2023 sell out UK tour and subsequent album “The Mighty Several” Rianne featuring on half a dozen tracks.
Rianne’s debut album “The Consequence of Love” was released to great acclaim in October 2025 and reached Number One in the UK Country and Americana Charts as well as the Top Twenty in UK Album Chart.
The sold out tour on the back of the album release kicked off last year across with a final “home town”show for 2025 at the iconic “Old Fruitmarket” in Glasgow, which I was fortunate enough to attend, what an amazing night that was too.
So to tonights venue, One NinetyFour Neon, Piccadilly, in the heart of London and the first gig in a thirteen date leg. The venue is on two levels, a contemporary cafe/bar on the ground floor with a 400 capacity large open, low ceiling, events space below. Acoustically the sound was pretty good throughout although the lighting was limited but adequate for this type of venue. With a packed audience the heat and atmosphere soon ramped up though.
Opening up the night we had London’s own Country/Folk singer songwriter Maya Lane, a really great acoustic set which complimented well what was to come. Definitely worth a check out at C2C this weekend if you are attending.
On to Rianne’s set, she bounced up on to stage, jump suited up, newly coloured hair in full flow to great cheers and we were away with the first couple of songs from the album “Sunblind” and “Blue Eyes Burnin’ ”. After some hello’s and how great it was to be back in London and on tour again we had one of my personal faves “The Song of Old Glencoe” with its nod to the traditional songs and folklores of Riannes homeland, beautifully delivered.
A couple of songs later we had the title track “The Consequence of Love”, another highlight and as Rianne explained to the audience, now hanging on here every word, its about the pain and grief of losing someone and relationship breakdowns, in her case her Grandma. Followed by “Angel” a song Rianne is particularly proud of, apparently she has to tell herself that yes, she did write that!
Next up and a surprise, although a very good one, we had Riannes cover of “Caledonia”. I mistakenly thought this would be on the setlist for gigs only in Scotland, it went down an absolute storm in Glasgow and is easily my favourite version. But thankfully it had been requested by multiple people for tonight and Rianne duly obliged and yes it was amazing and yes it went down a storm again!
Now it was time to bring up the aforementioned Mr Heaton and what an opportunity and turning point it had been, a grateful Rianne (and audience) then had the pleasure of singing (and hearing live) “Silly Me” and “Quicksand” from their collaboration. The stage was not the biggest but Rianne danced , stomped and twirled every inch of it. A couple more album tracks later we dipped in to Beautiful South territory with a brilliant rendition of “Rotterdam”, Rianne again acknowledging the moment and the crowd.
The night closed with very the fitting track off the extraordinarily brilliant debut album, do yourself a huge favour and take a listen if you have not done so before, “Good in Goodbye” and then “Home” from the 2023 EP “Come What May”. Cue thunderous applause and cheers in acknowledgment of a memorable evening.
The tour continues through to mid- April and cannot recommend enough catching this incredible artist live.
