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| HAYLA @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
The Great American Music Hall's November 2023 sound system upgrade finally found an artist who took full advantage of the enhanced venue acoustics -- I can easily say that I heard the best sounding show at the Great American Music Hall last night when HAYLA's soaring vocals and backing beats absolutely filled the hall with amazing sonics and clarity. HAYLA's vocals were simply awe inspiring.
As one of EDM's most promising emerging vocalists, HAYLA has been making waves in the electronic music scene, most notably through her recent collaborations with superstar producer Kygo. Her distinctive voice has become increasingly familiar to dance music fans worldwide, and her performance proved why she's become such a sought-after collaborator in the genre.
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| HAYLA @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
The historic Great American Music Hall was packed nearly to its 600-person capacity – an impressive turnout for a Thursday night in San Francisco. The dense crowd created an electric atmosphere even before HAYLA took the stage, with fans pressed close to the ornate barriers of the venue's baroque balconies and filling every available space on the main floor.
HAYLA's striking stage presence was enhanced by her carefully curated aesthetic – her sleek pulled-back hair and dramatic black ruffled dress that could have walked straight off a haute couture runway. The thoughtful styling choice created a perfect visual harmony with the stage design, where matching black ruffled curtains draped the backdrop, creating an elegant cocoon that seemed to amplify both her voice and presence. The interplay between her attire and the stage design transformed the historic venue into an intimate fashion-meets-music sanctuary.
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| HAYLA @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
From the moment she opened with "Freefall," HAYLA commanded the historic venue's intimate space with a presence that belied her emerging artist status. Her voice, a powerful instrument that seamlessly transitions from delicate whispers to roof-raising crescendos, found its perfect acoustic home in the Hall's ornate walls.
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| HAYLA @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
The setlist masterfully balanced the emotional weight of her repertoire. Early highlights included "Shiver" and "I Found You," which showcased her ability to build tension and release it with devastating effect. By the time she reached "Without You" midway through the set, the audience was completely entranced, dancing in unified appreciation of her emotional delivery.
"Loneliest Around You" proved to be a standout moment of the night, with HAYLA stripping back the instrumentation to let her voice take center stage. The silence in the room was palpable, broken only by her crystalline vocals and the occasional gasp from audience members caught in the song's emotional undertow.
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| HAYLA @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
As the set approached its climax, "Another World" transformed the venue into exactly that – a parallel universe where the entire crowd moved as one. The moment the distinctive opening beats dropped, phones shot into the air as fans rushed to capture the electric atmosphere. HAYLA fed off this energy, delivering perhaps her most dynamic vocal performance of the night while the audience jumped and danced with abandon, creating a synchronized wave of movement that swept through the historic hall. You could see HAYLA was soaking up every minute of it with her wide smiles in between verses while she connected with the crowd in the front rows of the pit.
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| HAYLA @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
The main set closer "Where You Are" maintained this fevered pitch, with HAYLA masterfully building the song's intensity to its euphoric chorus. The crowd's response was immediate and explosive – another forest of recording phones emerged as fans refused to let this moment go undocumented. The song's pulsing rhythm and HAYLA's soaring vocals created the perfect storm of dance-worthy beats and sing-along moments, ending the main set on an undeniable high.
The encore choices of "Secondhand Smoke" and "Escape" served as a perfect capstone to the evening, with the latter sending the audience home on an uplifting high.
What sets HAYLA apart isn't just her technical prowess – though that alone would be worth the price of admission – but her ability to infuse each song with authentic emotion that resonates throughout the venue. In the Great American Music Hall, a space that has hosted countless legendary performers over its storied history, HAYLA proved she belongs among their ranks.
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| HAYLA @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
This performance wasn't just a concert; it was a statement of artistic arrival. As the crowd filtered out onto O'Farrell Street, the buzz of conversation centered not on if HAYLA would break through to larger venues, but when. Based on Thursday night's performance, that time is coming sooner rather than later.
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