Charli XCX,
The Hydro, Glasgow
Five stars
It was a freezing December night in Glasgow – but if you looked closely enough, there were some lingering signs of summer. Namely, a ‘brat summer’, the cultural and musical revelation ignited by Charli XCX earlier this year, where her acclaimed ‘Brat’ album dominated the charts, spawning TikTok dances and memes galore.
Charli’s hedonistic, carefree attitude seemed to strike a chord with younger generations – who have endured miserable economic circumstances and political turmoil for most of their adult life – while the album cover’s neon green colour scheme was soon to be found copied across clothing, merchandise and even Kamala Harris' presidential campaign logo.
That colour was also in abundance among the fans streaming into the Hydro for the final night of her arena tour.
Charli (real name Charlotte Aitchison) started her career performing at underground raves, even before she turned 18, declaring how much the clubbing scene has influenced her music. But how would that type of sweaty, intimate show translate to a mammoth, shiny arena like the Hydro, with nearly 15,000 fans in attendance? Remarkably well, it turns out.
Her decision to have a stripped back performance, with no backing dancers, fancy staging or graphics displayed behind her, achieved the impressive feat of making the Hydro feel more like an industrial warehouse. There’s no need to rely on pyrotechnics, it seems, when so much energy comes from Charli herself. She essentially raved her way through her own set, finding as much joy in dancing to her back catalogue as the crowd did.
But the general mood was the same as that projected during ‘brat summer’ – letting loose, having fun with friends and forgetting about the generally depressing state of the world.
The downsides? Charli hardly removed her sunglasses throughout the entire show, and there wasn’t much in the way of chatting to the crowd. But, as she told Billboard in an interview earlier this year, “desire is cultivated by being a little bit hard to reach, a little bit separate”.
And, when the show is this fun, who cares?
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