Charli XCX at London’s O2 review: An electric rush from 2024’s defining pop star
At her London Brat show, Charli xcx proved that she’s the defining pop star of 2024. (Getty)
Six months ago, on Brat’s sparsest album track “I might say something stupid”, Charli XCX confessed to feeling “famous but not quite”.
It was an understandable statement from someone who had spent more than 13 years on pop’s periphery, finding critical acclaim within her loyal, largely queer fanbase, but only managing to touch the mainstream with her most insipid work.
Arriving at London’s O2 Arena last night (28 November) though, it becomes instantly clear that she no longer has to worry about the “not quite” bit. The 20,000 strong crowd struts in wearing a sea of slime green crop tops and chunky black sunglasses, inspired by Charli’s garish Brat album cover and mean girl aesthetic that defined 2024, leaving the merch stands feeling sadly unneccesary.
The Tube station’s Pret A Manger has a “pret” sign slapped in its window, mimicking the album’s rudimentary typeface. Bic lighters adorn every restaurant table in the arena. It feels more like the second coming of a cultural prophecy than a standard gig.
Like almost everything Charli XCX has offered during the rollout of her career-best album, that’s intentional. With just four UK dates, attending the Brat arena tour feels like an exclusive invitation to Berghain, a once-in-a-lifetime clubbing experience.
On stage, she dials that feeling up to one hundred, ditching the glitz and frill usually associated with an arena tour in favour of simply feral vibes. Despite often feeling like a vacuum, tonight, the O2 could be an east London basement. There’s no grand arrival – she pops out from behind a Brat themed curtain to her thumping, Shygirl-assisted track “365” – and then off she goes for 90 minutes, barely stopping to catch her breath.
Understandably, the setlist is incredibly Brat heavy, speeding through the album’s signature moments including “Von Dutch” and “360” in a sweat-caked frenzy. Bar a camera operator filming her every move, a caged bellow-stage runway, and an elevated platform, it’s just Charli and the crowd, following her every command. When she demands they put their hands up, 20,000 hands rise. When she tells them to jump, the O2’s foundations shake.
Highlights include summer TikTok smash “Apple” featuring a reluctant rendition of the viral dance by her fiancé, The 1975’s George Daniel; “Guess”, her sapphic banger with Billie Eilish, which sends the crowd into uncontrollable hysteria; and “Girl, so confusing”, her fizzy reconciliation track with Lorde, which, upon its surprise release in late June, shifted the cultural understanding of the pop girl feud. It’s an electric rush, and even the show’s softer moments – including “I might say something stupid” and 2020’s “Party 4 U” – do little to sober the heady atmosphere.
It’s towards the end of the show that it veers into indescribably good territory. She brings out a cohort of peers from her Brat remix album, including Swedish pop behemoth Robyn and pop experimentalist Caroline Polacheck, to perform reworked versions of “360” and “Everything is romantic”, plus the artists’ own hits “Welcome To My Island” and Robyn’s exquisite “Dancing On My Own”. It culminates in fan-favourite “Track 10” performed by a flailing Charli under a rain curtain, and an explosive throwback to her OG breakout hit, “I Love It”.
By the end, it feels like the Brat era and Charli’s career personified: every time you think it may come to a natural lull, there’s another shot of adrenaline. Long may the rush continue.
Charli XCX will play in Birmingham on 29 November and Glasgow on 2 December. Tickets for her 2025 US arena tour are on sale now.
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