Keelie Walker & HRVY at The London Palladium

It has been 2 years, a pandemic, and a seemingly uncountable number of lockdowns since I last saw Keelie Walker perform live. It’s safe to say a lot has happened, and changed, since then. It is also safe to say that Keelie has emerged from this time as an even stronger performer.

Time flows differently in teenage years - each year in teenage-hood holds more transformation and potential for change than in adulthood. Now 18 years old, Keelie has an evolved setlist of songs that detail her continuing journey through life, boys, and love, as well as a now star-studded belt of experience touring with renown names like Westlife, Jason Derulo, and now HRVY. Joining HRVY for his 2021 ‘Third Time Lucky’ UK tour, Keelie with her array of pop songs and entourage of back-up dancers is incredibly well placed as a support act here.

Beginning with such songs as Girls Night and Shy Boy Keelie launched into an impressively high-energy performance - the youthful energy of her songs matched perfectly with the dynamism of her dancing, echoed and reinforced by her two back-up dancers. This was an insight, a foreshadowing of what the audience could expect with the main act, as Keelie perfectly set the scene for HRVY's pop-ballad setlist and 10-person-or-so crew of dancers. This kind of pairing between support-and-main acts is rare, and achieves what is best described as a synergy.