Charli XCX tells LIDO Festival crowds Brat Summer is ‘forever'

The Herald Scotland

10 hours ago

She worked her way through her hit album Brat, turning the stage into a club with strobe flashing lights, heavy techno beats and a waterfall.
The crowd, a sea of lime green, sunglasses and mobile phones, roared hysterically as ragged green curtains emblazoned with Brat rolled down to the opening song 365 remix, featuring Shygirl.
Dressed in a cropped top resembling cellophane, yellow bra, studded black leather hotpants with XCX in diamantes on the bottom and thigh-high boots, the 32-year-old strutted across the stage and down the runway, twerking to fans and the rolling cameras.
'Where the f*** you at?' she yelled to the crowd, who shouted the lyrics back at her.
She tore down the Brat curtains and walked into the aisle, touching outstretched hands as Von Dutch started playing.
The singer needed no background more than the alternating flashing white, black, blue and red lights as she filled the stage with her presence, club dancing and attitude.
Fog surrounded her as she danced and scowled at the camera, dropping to the floor, headbanging and shaking her body.
As the sun set, she asked: 'You ready?' and yelled with autotune: 'Put your hands up' as Club Classics began, jumping up and down with her hands in the air.
A sudden cameo showed YouTuber and presenter Amelia Dimoldenberg performing a viral TikTok dance to the song Apple, while Charli XCX sipped an Aperol spritz on stage.
She asked: 'Are you getting f***** up tonight?' To which the crowd roared.
She introduced Girl, So Confusing in autotune by saying: 'If you came with your best friend, then this one is for you.
'Especially when sometimes you had a fight and you make up with them and you're in a way better place than before.'
Speed Drive, a song she wrote for the Barbie movie, was introduced as a song 'for my girls who want to drive really really, really fast'.
Charli told fans: 'this was a real pleasure to come here with basically all my favourite artists. I hope you had as much fun as I did. This is not the end though, I promise'.
She teased the audience, asking: 'Is this like a Brat Summer again or should I put a bullet in it?'
During a techno version of Sympathy Is A Knife, she furiously stabbed at her chest and tossing her hair around while crawling on the floor.
After another remix of 365, Bladee and AG Cook came on to help Charli sing.
There was a technical error when she realised they were singing the wrong rendition and she laughed as she went off stage to correct the song, running back on and awkwardly hugging her friends, telling the crowd, 'My bad'.
The trio danced around the stage together, and Charli joyfully told them 'love you'.
She said: 'F*** them other cities' to thunderous cheers from the crowd as Party on U began.
The crowd was delighted to hear Charli sing an older song, Vroom Vroom.
The stage went black and a creaking noise was made before a waterfall started cascading from the sky.
Charli stood under it and raised her arms to sing Blame It On Your Love. She flicked her hair back and dropped to the floor as the camera spun around her.
The final song was Icona Pop's I Don't Care (I Love It).
'This is it', she said, leaving the stage while the screens in her iconic Brat font asked the crowd whether Brat Summer was truly over.
It read: 'But actually I don't think it is.
'So tell me the truth. Will you hate me if I stick around?
'Because I don't know who I am if it's over.
'And so I have decided. I want this to last forever.'
Followed by fireworks, the message signed off: 'It wasn't just a summer thing. It's a forever thing. Please don't let it be over.' .
The singer curated the line-up for the day, inviting her friends and co-creators The Dare, FiFi, Rose Gray, 070 Shake and Gesaffelstein among others for a dance, club-like atmosphere.
The star-studded event saw the likes of actor Harris Dickinson, Lily Allen, Paul Mescal, singer Shygirl, Will Poulter and Lewis Capaldi walking around enjoying the music and beating sun.
Named after Victoria Park's historic Lido Field, the music series was announced last autumn in East London.
Jamie xx, Massive Attack and London Grammar have also headlined across the festival which has been attended by celebrities including Harry Styles and Naomi Campbell.