Live Report: Kenya Grace lays an array of irresistible club boosters before a welcoming Longitude crowd

Stepping up to the decks, Kenya Grace launches Longitude's main stage on Sunday with a banging set.

Launching into her 2023 electro-pop hit 'Afterparty Lover,' the South African drum 'n' bass maestro deftly warms up the crowd. While braiding in breakbeat moments, the track vacillates between lush house progressions and sharpened percussive peaks.

"This is my first time in Ireland," Grace chimes. "I'm so happy to be here."

Kenya Grace at Longitude 2024. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

The next track, 'Paris,' begins without hesitation. Featuring a thumping sample of 'Hollaback Girl,' dreamy vocals and pounding bass suffused the Marlay Park fairgrounds to get the crowd grooving. Speaking directly to her fans in a language they can understand, the lyrics pick apart the problematic world of online dating:

"Take me to Paris, we'll stay in a palace
Pretend we're in love, just to Instagram it
We'll go on a date, just to post what we're havin'
Everything's fake and none of it matters". 

App-based alienation and the romance-robbing culture of swipe come to fore, a bubbling cauldron of club rolling melodies and impeccable vocals from the decks maestro herself.

Kenya Grace at Longitude 2024. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

Amidst a scattering of nostalgic DnB-infused live covers (including Gwen Stefani's 'Hollaback Girl' and Britney Spears' 'Toxic'), the soft-emo impact of Grace's set boasted out-and-out electro-pop songs with intriguingly skeletal undercarriages. The theme of sadgirl mania is replicated in the songs' twisted, prismatic structures.

Kenya Grace at Longitude 2024. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

An eye-catching feature of Grace's set are the visualisers displayed behind the decks, illuminating an avatar of the artist with her signature jet-black hair and drudging amongst the slew of broken-heart emojis on a loop.

On stage, Grace impressively sings and mixes her own tracks live. Her voice, soft and warming, slyly compliment her instrumentals. There is little pause between each song, instead Grace proffers seamless transitions from one track to the next.

Kenya Grace at Longitude 2024. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

Kenya Grace closes her set with her global smash, 'Strangers'. As the first notes filled every molecule of air, swaths of fans are seen running towards the stage, belting the lyrics word for word.

Upon release, the track vaulted up the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Charts to no. 1, marking the first time in the chart’s 10-year history that it’s been led by a track solely written, produced and sung by a woman. A dreamy, sort of eerie ode to meeting people on dating apps who then ghost, the banger sent heads in the air and heads rolling.

An undeniably gifted performer, Grace finds a welcome home on the Longitude Main Stage with her pummelling set that flickers in emo technicolor richness.