Page 36 - Black Velvet Rock Magazine Issue 112

BV112 pg 36-37 RORY.qxp_BV112 pg 36 22/06/2025 17:54 Page 1

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RØRY – BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE, 03.03.25
There are concerts that you go to for Songs such as ‘ALTERNATIVE’ are stunning. RØRY’s husband Rich gets to greet the crowd before
fun, and there are concerts that you go to the heartbreaking, piano-fueled ‘FAMILY TREE.
for, not just fun, but to really feel some- RØRY surprises everyone when she goes up into the balcony to sing ‘One Drink Away’ and ‘the apol-
thing… something deeper, something ogy i’ll never receive’, acoustically, with her guitarist. She makes sure everyone can see by asking some
within, something from the heart. A RØRY of the crowd to move further back so those underneath the balcony that she’s on can move over and
show is one of the latter. then watch. At the end of ‘One Drink Away’, she tells everyone who is trying to give up drinking to stick
And, no matter your age, whether you with it. It’s refreshing to hear a singer talk openly at a show about being sober and clean, hopefully in-
are young or old, male, female, or gender spiring more people to pick alcohol-free options.
neutral, you are all welcome. Everyone is
welcome at a RØRY show, and everyone
fits in. When at a RØRY concert, every-
one is exactly where they are meant to be.
After a couple of impressive sets by
female-fronted bands Lake Malice and As
December Falls, two bands we’ll be hear-
ing lots more from soon, there’s a huge
cheer as RØRY arrives on stage. Opening
song, ‘In The Bible’, includes the lyric ‘Ev-
erything you lost will be restored’, which
came to RØRY, AKA Rox Pink, in a
dream. And everything that she lost WAS
restored – her music career, her personal
life, friendships and sobriety. That, alone,
is inspiring.
In the opening song, RØRY’s silky vo-
cals softly wash over you. They harden a
little for ‘if pain could talk, what would it
say?’ where RØRY, authentically, opens
up about the pain she’s faced in her life.
“Who has been here since the start of the
story?” she says, after the final line,
‘RØRY, this is the start of your story’.
The audience prove that they HAVE
been along for the ride since the begin-
ning, as they sing 2021’s ‘UNCOMPLI-
CATED’ at the top of their lungs. RØRY
definitely knows how to write perfect pop-
rock anthems that strike a chord with the
listener.
Before ‘Help Your Friends Get Sober’,
RØRY tells the crowd, “There is one rea-
son why I’m stood on this stage today, and
that is because I got sober, six and a half
years ago.” She sees a fan in the front row
with a ‘One Month Sober’ sign, asks her
name and asks the audience to give her
a massive cheer. The song goes out to
anyone who has got sober or anyone that
didn’t make it. RØRY, as she stands on
stage today, is a fantastic role model. She
has gone through so much and come out
the other side.
As December Falls frontwoman
Bethany Curtis joins RØRY on stage dur-
ing ‘My Funeral Song’. “Are we having…
fun?” RØRY asks at the end of the dancey
tune. There’s a cheer from the audience.
“Something about that doesn’t feel right…
You are, after all, at a RØRY concert. I’m
glad you’ve had fun up until this point. I’d
like to let you know that the fun is now
over!” She talks about losing her mom at
the age of 22 to cancer. It’s sad to hear
that she never got to see her perform live.
She asks the audience, if they feel com-
fortable, to raise a hand if they have lost
a family member or friend. She talks about
how it makes you feel so lonely, but so
many are going through a similar thing. It’s
a truly heartfelt moment, which leads into
the lulling ‘Jesus & John Lennon’.

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