Starting your career just as a pandemic starts could definitely be seen as bad timing and drawing the opening slot on the Saturday morning after a rawkus Friday night also looked a little unfortunate however as the start time approached bleary eyed country fans duly filled the tent for Reya's festival debut.
Reya first hit our radar with her single "Homeless" and in another strange turn of events the soundcheck team seemed to insist that she played so much of it that I think many thought the performance had actually started - it even got its own round of applause. It may well have been planned to be her opener but having played so much of it, thinking on her feet Reya instead opened with a Shania Twain cover "You're Still The One". Reya was one of the few artist I can think of outside of the Songwriter Rounds who actually played solo - and this version got an enthusiastic response from the crowd.
Revealing her single "Burn" to be partly Bridgerton inspired it was great watching her elongate the title out over numerous syllables.
Star song of the set was undoubtedly "Eyes Of A Liar" with Reya's vocals excelling on the chorus which more than made up for the lack of a guitar solo that is on the recorded version.
A close second though was "You Want Me" with Reya having to generate the good time vibe of the single with just an acoustic guitar - it took things uptempo and with her delivery on the chorus she pulled it off with some aplomb..
It meant closing out on perhaps her most considered song, the aforementioned "Homeless". The whole festival was very much a learning experience for Reya and she was to be found soaking up the experience of the festival throughout the weekend - she will undoubtedly be back!!