Wandering and Wondering

The Grace has been home to many legends over the years; The Killers, Mumford & Sons, Wolf Alice, The 1975, need I say more…all artists that held something representing talent, determination and authenticity. Bostonian, 24 year old LILY FITTS was no exception to these traits as she took the stage last Thursday night.

I entered the venue with a semi-permanent THE GRACE stamp on my arm branding me one of the lucky 150 people who managed to obtain a ticket to Fitts’s sold-out gig. I pushed my way forward and yes I mean pushed because this crowd was wonderfully passionate and did not want to budge from the front of the stage. A guitarist and drummer jumped on stage beaming out at the plethora of different audience members; many American accents, couples, groups of friends and a surprisingly large range of men.

As the music crescendoed the main act revealed herself; Lily Fitts is a girl-next-door type, standing proud with perfectly curled hair and a conservative yet seductive black two piece — the next hour and a half was riddle with country twang, sassy attitude and pure, raw honesty. There was no ego on stage or crazy special effects, Fitts stood like a natural sharing her weapon of choice (an acoustic guitar) as she opened with power. ‘I Don’t Owe You S***’ began and we were co-authors of the story, we had chosen our antagonist and were belting out ‘you’re a cheated, you’re a fake‘ with the same passion as Fitts herself.

We were then let in on a “little secret” that this was Fitts’s debut headline show which made the night all that more special. Time was taken to introduce us to her recently released album Getting By, a collection of ten songs which pave a journey of heartbreak, rock-bottom and resurrection. Standing like an army the crowd knew every word to ‘Lose You Now’, they chanted “But I’ll take the higher road and I’ll save you from yourself/If it means there’s something left of me to love for someone else” with as much power and pain as Fitts did. ‘Some Kind of Evil’ was a key moment in Fitt’s show “If you can’t have me now then no one else can” was filled with fire, the room felt like a collection of friends supporting Fitts through the worst break-up in the world. I then felt a blast of love sent towards the stage as Fitts ad-libbed “newsflash I wrote a whole album” during the bridge. Fitts is proof that revenge is best served on a platter filled with success — wallowing is allowed, but its what you do with the wallowing that represents who you are, and Fitts is a soldier that clearly won the battle.

When singing ‘Buying Time’ she continued to ad-lib again throwing even more of her personality into this headline gig, “I quit smoking“, queue wink and “I tried” — we grasped Lily in every interaction with the crowd. Fitts has a wonderful habit of accentuating lyrics that she wants to stand out for instance in ‘Brown Eyed Baby’, “Tell yourself life’s a b**** and so am I!” was clearly spoken to us with facial expressions that communicated the message with a strong motive. We then got a fabulous treat, producer and songwriter Ryan Linvill was in the audience supporting Fitts and therefore ‘Cry in California’ was our next anthem — these two wrote this masterpiece during a trip Fitts took to LA in the songwriting process.

Fitts represents is reclaiming her voice and refusing to let the person who wronged her narrate her story. It’s beautiful, powerful and refreshing, she doesn’t sugar-coat her anxiety or pain, she very frankly and sometimes brutally tells audiences how it felt to be hurt. Fitts grasps the ears of people that want a cathartic listen, allowing them to reflect on their own trauma and empower them further. This was explained comfortably when introducing ‘Getting By’, a song she wrote whilst sitting on her porch when “sometimes getting up in the morning is the best you can do…I’ve been there too”.

Fitts threw in another treat giving us her rendition of ‘Stick Season’ by Noah Kahan mentioning that the following day she was opening for him at British Summer Time in Hyde Park. Our ending was powerful, Fitts’s first ever release ‘Hurts Like Hell’ left us feeling satisfied, exhausted and invigorated all at the same time. We sang, we danced, we looked strangers in the eyes and reflected on the past hour and a half of soul searching amongst silver disco balls reflecting the lights.

Lily Fitts looks like a gift wrapped neatly in a bow but when she strums her guitar she enlightens us with humorous, witty one liners reflecting self-sabotage, sarcastic lyrics highlighting self-doubt and brutal phrases that signify toxic relationships. Partner all this with a beautiful indie-folk voice and professional songwriting ability, PLUS a crowd with nothing short of grammy winning support — you have yourself Lily Fitts’s debut headline at The Grace.