Charli XCX at the O2 review: Is this the best show of the year?

Over the past decade, Charli XCX has been cautiously carving retired her lane arsenic a somewhat niche, left-field popular creator with a ferocious (and markedly queer) instrumentality following. With its lurid greenish cover, intentionally pixelated cover, and abrasive, club-influenced sound, Charli’s sixth full-length medium Brat felt similar it was heading down the acquainted way of brilliant-but-lesser-known cult classic, to beryllium filed adjacent to different inventive, experimental releases specified arsenic Vroom Vroom and Pop 2.

Rather than becoming a superstar disconnected the backmost of her fleeting and somewhat unenthused forays into commercial, radio-friendly popular (think: Sucker’s Boom Clap, Crash’s Beg For You) Charli has alternatively achieved mainstream punch-through with her astir warped, and experimental side. Unsurprisingly, this has lone emboldened her imaginativeness further, and wholly eschewing galore of the conventions of a emblematic big-budget popular spectacle, Charli XCX’s O2 amusement alternatively brought the strobing chaos of a darkened basement nine to 1 of London’s biggest venues.

Flanked by almighty achromatic lasers, and often strutting retired into the assemblage via an industrial, wire-lined tunnel, Charli was the lone idiosyncratic on-stage for overmuch of the show, spare for a roving camera which chased her astir everyplace she went, and projected a zoomed-in position consecutive onto the large screens. This meant that each azygous infinitesimal was captured, including Charli spitting onto a transparent signifier arsenic the Billie Eilish-featuring mentation of Guess blasted from the soundsystem, and promptly licking it from the floor.

Meticulously choreographed, the accumulation veered betwixt high-budget polish (think: rainfall machines and pneumatic raised platforms) and thing willfully DIY: a hostility that worked brilliantly successful specified a mammoth, glossy venue. It was immoderate of the astir originative staging of the year. Charli casually entered the signifier for opener 360 by ducking nether a monolithic and somewhat creased Brat curtain, sipped a solid of vino arsenic the assemblage belted retired the chorus of Apple, and spoke astir the suffocating pressures of unattainable quality standards done heavy layers of comedic autotune. “F*** that shit, bitch,” she concluded up of Girl, So Confusing with a robotic wobble.

The setlist was astir wholly focused connected Brat, alongside her different club-influenced releases: 2017’s influential mixtape Pop 2, the warped, alien revs of Vroom Vroom, and the introspective experiments of lockdown medium How I’m Feeling Now.

Cuts from Brat’s arsenic acclaimed remix medium besides peppered the setlist, offering the cleanable excuse for Charli to bring connected a procession of impermanent stars. As good arsenic an aboriginal quality from Shygirl – who besides supported, and features connected the remix of 365 – she was joined by a flawless Caroline Polachek for their reworked caller mentation of Everything Is Romantic, and the transcendental George Daniel remix of Welcome To My Island.

After inviting connected rapper Yung Lean and popular royalty Robyn for their 360 remix, Charli past handed implicit the mic for a euphoric rendition of the latter’s biggest hit, Dancing On My Own.

Instead of an encore, Charli alternatively ended with 2012’s I Love It – the fig 1 azygous she wrote, and past gave away, to Swedish popular duo ICONA POP precise aboriginal successful her career. It seemed to beryllium a motion to however things whitethorn person panned retired if she had hung onto that opus for herself.

In a uncommon glimmer of full sincerity, Charli thanked the time 1 Angels who person stuck with her done each azygous turn, packing retired tiny venues similar Village Underground and Lafayette agelong earlier the arenas called. "I request to archer you, we f**king did this connected our own, bitch," she said. "I wouldn't beryllium present without you, and I f**king cognize that. I thrust for you guys, similar you thrust for me."

And who connected world wants boring and wholly by-the-book popular anyway? Charli whitethorn person been connected 1 hellhole of a journey, but the results are yet acold much interesting: successful spot of identikit pop, we present person a prima who feels wholly unconventional and refreshing, doing things wholly connected her ain terms.