Hayley Williams and Romy Cover Prefab Sprout at London Solo Show

Hayley Williams’ first solo tour touched down at London’s Roadhouse last night with a moment that pulled from a specific corner of British pop history. Romy joined Williams on stage for a cover of Prefab Sprout’s “Wild Horses,” the closing track from the band’s 1990 album Jordan: The Comeback. The choice fit the evening’s looser, less guarded tone — Williams has been using these dates to share the room with a rotating cast of guests, and the Prefab Sprout selection landed without fanfare or forced nostalgia.

The appearance arrived during a busy stretch for Romy. The night before, she was brought out by Beverly Glenn-Copeland at Harry Styles’ Meltdown festival at the Royal Festival Hall. Together they performed “La Vita,” the 2004 song Romy sampled on “Enjoy Your Life” from her 2023 solo album Mid Air. She later wrote on Instagram about hearing the track for the first time in Stockholm in 2018, describing it as something that “took hold of my heart and has never let go.” Earning Glenn-Copeland’s permission to use the sample, she added, meant everything.

Two guest spots in two nights, each grounded in a different kind of debt. At the Roadhouse, a shared nod to a band that rarely surfaces in contemporary setlists. Across town, the kind of direct transmission from an elder that shapes an artist’s own language. Neither moment aimed for spectacle. Both gestured toward songs that have quietly stuck around.