There arethree cars in front of me and three behind me, police cars in front and behind those, police motorbikes along the edges of the line. I’m hidden by blacked-out windows and driven by Kareem. We’re nearly at Murrayfield.
The stage at the stadium is already built when I arrive, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it in person. All through rehearsals, it was mapped out on the floor with tape, but actually seeing the shape in person… For this tour, I’ve gone for something that looks like a crossed-out T so that I can reach different areas of the standing crowd. My thinking was there would be less spots that fans would fight over, would camp overnight for.
The stadium is eerily empty because I don’t go on for another few hours yet. There were loads of fansmilling about outside when we approached the stadium, but none of them have been let in yet, letting me have this moment before sound check. To look around and see the stadium. To take it all in.
For my final tour.
At least for the time being.
I don’t think I’ll retire completely until I’ve released my tenth album. I know I’ll be releasingOdes and Balladsas an acoustic, surprise album. And leaving it on nine is such anannoyingnumber. I want to give the fans some hope that I’ll be coming back before I finally leave for good.
I won’t tourOdes and Ballads, though. Its sound wouldn’t suit a stadium tour anyway. And I might not even write a tenth album. I might use it as an excuse to release all the songs that I’ve always wanted to release, that haven’t quite fit on any other album. One final ‘here’s everything I have’ album.
It’s strange, but even thinking about it makes me feel lighter.
I stand on the stage. It’s so much less overwhelming in here when it’s dark – seeing every single seat in the daylight and knowing there are going to be people filling them for the first sold-out show is wild. Seventy-three thousand people. All listening to the same song at the same time, screaming the same lyrics.
Ruby Rain is opening for me and, when I asked, I was met with screaming and crying and shouts of ‘are you serious!’. She’s so young. Only twenty-three. She can’t believe she gets to play in stadiums already. I tell her that by the time she’s my age she’ll have played more stadiums than anything else. She likes that.
We test the sound, and I can hear screaming fromoutsidethe stadium when I speak into the microphone. I don’t sing. It’s a long tour and I don’t want to waste my voice.
Dennis follows me back through the halls. I smile at the stadium staff I walk past.
‘You okay?’ I smile and tell them that I’m also fine thanks.
The halls are lined with stars who have played at the stadium over the years. There’s a huge photo of me on tour forPrivacy Piracyin 2023 on one of the walls. I’d just broken the all-time attendance record for the stadium, breaking the previous record I set in 2019 on tour forUnlikely Silence, which broke the 2017 record I broke on tour forSweethearts Inside at Night. Just before I go on tonight, they’ll tell me if I broke the 2023 record.
Ruby is in her dressing room with the door open. I can hear her soft voice trickling through the corridors, which only gets louder as I approach. I knock on her door with my index finger, and she spins around, jumping up as soon as she sees me like I’m a judge entering a courtroom.
‘Sienna!’ she smiles and reaches out her hand to shake mine.
I ignore her hand and lift my arms, inviting her into a hug.
‘It’s so lovely to see you again,’ Ruby beams.
‘I’m so happy you’re here. Your voice! Somehow even more beautiful in person. Didn’t know that was possible.’
‘Thank you so much,’ she beams.
‘I would start to rest now and warm it up again just before you go on. It’s a long tour and you don’t want to destroy your vocal cords.’
‘Noted, thank you.’
‘There’s tonnes more advice where that came from,’ I smirk.
‘I’m so grateful for all of this, Sienna.’
‘You really deserve it. Please– don’t thank me. I’m the lucky one, having you on my tour!’ With a smile, I leave her dressing room and allow the mask to drop for a few moments before I open the door next to hers, the door to my own dressing room.
‘Are you still okay doing Ruby’s hair and make-up?’ I ask James and Dina.
I don’t need to ask twice because they both love doing someone else’s hair and make-up other than the bog standard I always go for.
‘Do you want me to go first?’ Dina asks.
I nod. ‘Please.’ I sit in the chair in front of the mirror and James opens his make-up bag on the vanity.
‘How’s your lover boy?’ James asks, while he presses some iridescent glitter across my eyelid.
