RAYE Stops New Orleans Jazz Fest Set to Help Fan Before Bringing Newly Engaged Couple Onstage
RAYE Stops New Orleans Jazz Fest Set to Help Fan Before Bringing Newly Engaged Couple Onstage
Adam EnglandFri, April 24, 2026 at 2:09 PM UTC
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RAYE performing at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 23, 2026Credit: Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage -
RAYE stopped her set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival to allow medical and security teams to help a fan
Another attendee gave RAYE a poster and was proposed to by her boyfriend
The singer invited the couple onstage to celebrate their engagement when she performed "Where Is My Husband?"
RAYE had an eventful time on the first day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, pausing her show to help one fan before bringing a couple onstage to celebrate their proposal.
The 28-year-old singer-songwriter, whose real name is Rachel Keen, helped kick off the festival, located at the Fair Grounds Race Course, on Thursday, April 23 with a set packed with some of her biggest hits.
But there was a tense moment early on, when she was midway through "Skin & Bones." The singer had to stop the show to allow medical and security staff to support a festivalgoer.
"Could you just clear a path so this lovely gentleman can get through and provide help?" she asked those watching her on the Shell Gentilly Stage, before thanking them for their patience. The audience responded by applauding. RAYE then asked audience members nearby to give her a thumbs up once everything was resolved.
The audience at RAYE's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival set on April 23, 2026Credit: Jeff Nelson
About a minute later, she told fans that everything was sorted. "Alright, we're going to learn some lyrics now, and I hope this lovely person's okay," she said, before resuming her set.
Later in her set, RAYE received a poster from a fan. As she gushed over the gift, the singer turned back to the audience to ask the fan for her name when she learned that the woman's boyfriend just proposed to her — to everyone's surprise, as seen in a clip posted on TikTok. "What's your name? ...He just, he just proposed?" RAYE asked, clearly moved by the moment.
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While celebrating the couple's happy moment, she promised to bring them onstage when she played her hit, "Where Is My Husband?" She then made good on that gesture, shouting out the newly engaged pair, who sat onstage as she introduced them to the crowd, as seen in another clip shared on TikTok.
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Raye's eventful set and other performances on the festival's first day by the likes of Kings of Leon and Stephen Marley come after authorities "thwarted" a man's alleged mass shooting attempt in Louisiana, CNN reported Friday morning. According to police, a former cop identified as Christopher Gillum "expressed a desire to harm Black people and threatened to carry out a mass shooting at a New Orleans festival."
However, the North Carolina man "was arrested without incident Wednesday night" in Florida, the reported, citing the Okaloosa Sheriff's Office.
Following Gillum's arrest on April 23, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival issued a statement to Fox affiliate WVUE, saying: "As always, we coordinate closely with the FBI, Louisiana State Police, NOPD, NOCEM and other agencies. We look forward to another safe and joyful Jazz Fest."
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
