Charli XCX Crashes The Tivoli
By Emma Newbury
It almost seemed too good to be true that Charli XCX would straddle Australia for a ride with her 2022 album ‘CRASH’ for the first time coinciding with down under’s WorldPride events. Mesh-glad and glitter-tangled pixies of all parts of Meanjin/Brisbane walked along the art-deco halls of The Tivoli to commemorate the queen of the girls, gays and theys.
Upon entering the venue, a thrash of pink, blue and purple hypnotized the eyes of ticket holders, as self-proclaimed vampire slayer Prophecy Girl spread the good kind of filth throughout keen eardrums. The Naarm-based DJ playfully intertwined techno and hyper-pop, and the growing crowd did not hesitate at all to throw hands up and mosh. Opening for the likes of Donatachi, Machine Girl and Slayyter, it's no wonder that the same energy would be retained for Prophecy Girl by Charli XCX’s fanbase. To all the nightclubs in Brisbane - eat your heart out, this opening set had more vivacity than all of Fortitude Valley put together.
After a restock of vodka sodas, reapplication of cherry lipstick and a restless extra 15 minutes of wait time, the femme fatale Charli XCX appeared on stage. Charli donned her signature lived-in black liner paired with a sleek high ponytail. She opted for a black ruched mini dress complete with a killer heart pendant around the hip, fur bolero and of course some iconic black sunglasses. The screen behind her branded with the iconic “XCX” changed to cloudy hues as blue lightning ripped through, teasing at her first CRASH song for the night - ‘Lightning’.
A couple songs later, dark silence was met with grinding bass and a dark portrayal of what looked to be a colosseum on the back screen. Fans stood captivated, trying to figure out what on earth could incorporate such a visual. As soon as the first bar of the violins came in, fan’s first thoughts were the words that left Charli’s lips - Baby'.
Nearly the entire CRASH album was covered for the night, from the hot girl summer hits ‘Good Ones’ and ‘New Shapes’ to the heart-melter deep cuts such as ‘Every Rule’ and ‘Move Me’. Charli’s 2022 album CRASH demonstrated Charli rooting and maturing her hyperpop sound, extending on similar techniques and themes heard in past works Charli (2019) and how i’m feeling now (2020). While a gentler version of 2015 hit ‘Boom Clap’ was played to the nostalgia-ridden crowd around the halfway mark, it's fair to say that the Tumblr-girl Charli we grew up with from the Sucker (2015) days is a mere blip in the constant metamorphosis that is Charli XCX. Even before those Tumblr times stood the babyfaced Charli serving the galaxy print girlies of 2013 on album True Romance. While the aesthetic changes, the story always remains the same: Charli was made to be the unattainable she-wolf of our generation.
“The angels are feral sometimes” said Miss XCX, smiling down at her tightly packed and ever-so-stylish fans. She ditched the bolero from the heat of pumping out her choreo. “Charli’s angels” she smiles through the breathlessness, pinning the shiny term of endearment over the ecstatic crowd. The show must go on; her expression focuses back on the performance, and a fierce brow introduces her party anthems such as ‘Vroom Vroom’, ‘I Got It’, and ‘Unlock It’. The final KO that swept the crowd off their feet was ‘Good Ones’, and not a single person in the room could be said to not be at Charli’s mercy.
While Charli XCX might let the good ones go, we won’t be letting the memories of this show go anytime soon!