Charli XCX review – explosive hyperpop hedonism to exorcise the trauma of lockdown

During that first seemingly unending lockdown in 2020, while most of the world was watching Tiger King or baking bread, British pop maverick Charli XCX wrote, recorded and released a whole album. A collaborative effort with her fans, titled How I’m Feeling Now, it distilled the boredom, frustration, grief, gratitude and mania of that period into hyperactive club-pop that offered up escapism and introspection when they were needed most.

That record is the focus of Charli’s first post-lockdown UK show. Arriving on stage dressed as if she’s hosting a Matrix-themed aerobics session – in sunglasses, a black floor-length laced jacket, combat boots, cycling shorts and a cropped black sweater with “GAY” emblazoned on it – the 29-year-old barely stops moving during a rocket-paced set.

Opening with Visions, the optimistic closer from How I’m Feeling Now, Charli whizzes through the first three songs in a hedonistic rush that lubricates fans for Anthems, an industrial hyperpop explosion that causes a mosh pit. “Just because you’re on the balcony, doesn’t mean you’re not in it,” she shouts to those on the upper level, before thrashing around like a child at a party after too much sugar.

View image in fullscreen

This energy is maintained for most of the set, Charli and her fans egging each other on over the chaotic synths and rap of Pink Diamond and the scratching electronics of C2.0. This uproarious atmosphere leaves no space for sentimentality: stage chatter is kept to a minimum, while the ubiquitous lashings of live Auto-Tune blur the lines between her vocals and backing track, although this ultimately strips any rawness out of her voice on the more reflective moments like during the pensive Enemy.

But displays of emotion are clearly not the objective. Instead the focus is on exorcising the trauma of the past 19 months by partying, as evidenced during the encore, which Charli kicks off with Frankenstein banger Vroom Vroom causing the crowd to throw themselves with exuberant recklessness. It might not mark the end of the pandemic, but this show certainly feels like a euphoric and cathartic farewell to an era of Covid-necessitated repression, all orchestrated by one of pop’s most adventurous auteurs.