Holly Humberstone’s Memorable and Magical Night in D.C. on Her Cruel World Tour
- Maggz
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Written and Photo by Maggz
| The rising star took the stage to a sold-out crowd at D.C.’s iconic 9:30 Club with fans eagerly pressed to the barricade, hanging on her every lyric
The 9:30 Club filled up fast on June 10, 2026 as fans were eager to get as close as possible to the stage to see Holly Humberstone sing tracks from her sophomore album, Cruel World, released in April.
Up and coming artist Diva Smith took the stage first, making the crowd laugh with an opening line of “Thanks for getting here early, I only took this tour so I could see Holly for free!” Diva performed tracks off her (at the time) unreleased EP, Sunny Surrender, such as “Girlhood” and “Still The Kid.”
“I’m used to playing very small rooms in New York where frat boys in the back talk the whole time,” Diva laughed melodically as the crowd supportively booed the idea of such disrespect.
On summer break from her job as a pre-school teacher, Diva was confident and bright on the stage, accompanying herself on the acoustic guitar and smiling through her set. She even jokingly encouraged the crowd to stream her songs so she could make .003 cents per stream.
Diva closed out her warm set with “Sunny Surrender” and shared that she wanted to write a country song, resulting in the perfect song for summer roadtrips.
Holly took the stage soon after, fans passing her an inflatable sword early in the show, which she graciously took and waved around while moving about the stage. She placed it on her mic stand, cheerfully agreeing that it matched her medieval and woodsy set that adorned the stage. She kicked off her set with a fitting opening song, “So It Starts…” before diving into other favorites like “To Love Somebody” and album and tour title track “Cruel World.”
“This song ‘Deep End’ came out in 2020 and coming out of lockdown, I felt like the luckiest person in the world getting to travel and have a career in music.” With the song’s gorgeous and deep guitar strumming backing up Holly’s rich and addicting vocals, it’s no wonder this song has resonated with so many fans over the years, calling out to her sisters about struggles with mental health.
In the middle of Holly’s set, I looked out across the crowd of faces and thought “She could have sold out The Anthem, for sure,” which holds a few thousand more guests than the 9:30 Club. The artist has a history of upgrading her venue, having had to upgrade from a sold-out crowd at smaller venue The Atlantis to the 9:30 Club in 2024 on her Holly Humberstone Show tour. Local fans are relieved she added a D.C. stop again, after Holly graced the massive stages of Coachella, Governor’s Ball, All Things Go Toronto, and most recently, Bonnaroo.
“You don’t know how terrifying it is for me to sing that song every night,” Holly shared, opening up to the crowd that was singing along so loudly to “Beauty Pageant” and the repeating lines of “One day, I’ll make you love me, come on and make me pretty.”
Another crowd favorite was “White Noise” with so many fans immersed in the song, very few phones held in the air, simply taking in the live performance in the moment with all thoughts of documenting the night thrown out the window. Bodies swayed on beat with the steady drumming throughout the song, following Holly on her storytelling journey.
“Thank you guys for being here. Happy Pride!” Holly acknowledged, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Holly is currently touring in Europe through the end of the year, with a stop in Tokyo in August as part of the lineup for the iconic Summer Sonic Festival. She then will return to the States to open for Gracie Abrams during her three nights in LA at the Kia Forum in December. Tickets are on sale now.
Holly Humberstone
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