Drake turned the O2 into the O3, Charli XCX transformed the once millennium dome into a massive bratathon.
Having been present for both, the later is much more preferred. The O2 is one of the most iconic venues to take to the stage for, but the 20,000 capacity arena has seen nothing like what the British bratstar brought last night (November 28).
For her London date of the finite brat tour, Charli might as well have ripped out all of the seats as there was no need for any bum to touch them for the sell-out two hour show.
Having seen many a gig, a seat is always welcomed for any lulls in a set where the artist perhaps covers newer lower tempo tracks or songs only those who follow religiously will know.
Though, brat seems to be a religion amongst the age of the chronically online - and everyone in attendance was a firm believer.
What Charli did was bring her, mostly, brat album fuelled set to the stage with every hedonistic coated lyric chanted right back at her.
It quite literally made people go raving mad.
And to kick it all off, after about a minute of climatic strobing, Charli popped up under the massive green 'brat' creased curtain to major hit '365'.
All she needed was the massive un-ironed drape with the word of the year scrawled across it, her long obnoxiously flinging hair and her autotuned infused vocals for the crowd to instantly transform into one massive party.
Charli is no belter of a singer. The robotic twang assisting the popstar makes it brat, unapologetically so. She continued to reel off the lyrics to her drug reference packed 365 that was accompanied with her very arm inspired dance movements.
Shygirl, who was Charli's support act, joined her on the stage for the first song. This would be the first of the guests brought onto the stage - an exciting start but the expectation of the surprise stars gradually deflated throughout the show after learning it wouldn't be Lorde, Billie Eilish or Troye Sivan (all who have appeared so far).
Von Dutch was part of the first act which gave that little extra nudge to help transcend this from concert to party into a full-blown rave in just the first five minutes.
The bum cheek baring Charli did not waste anytime to get things started, neither did she waste a moment not to commit to her feral brat behaviour including; spitting on the floor, licking it up, glugging on a glass of wine, nearly flashing the crowd over a 14 minute wardrobe malfunction and just dancing like a stripper or a care-free club rat.
There needn't have been any choreographed moves nor any back-up dancers, it was Charli in her singular sweaty element supercharged by the electricity of the crowd attempting to mirror her moves with the limited floor space.
Charli sung Guess and 20,000 people covered Billie's part, there was something so beautiful about hearing 'guess the colour of my underwear' in unison. Like one big hedonistic choir.
Billie did not make an appearance, but US singer Caroline Polachek did. So did rapper Yung Lean and 00s star Robyn - who ended up singing everyone's favourite drunken end of the night hit 'Dancing On My Own'. The timing was very apt.
It was a bit disappointing not to have had the likes of Lorde or someone 'huge', by my estimates, come out on stage. But, looking back, it felt like a good brat choice - Charli does what she wants.
However, there was also something sentimental about it, especially with Robyn's surprise appearance after being out of the spotlight for years felt right. Robyn deserved this huge moment with an active crowd, just like how Charli deserves to finally be getting the global recognition for her genius.
Charli finished the only London date with her and Icona Pop's I Love It. And that I did.
Brat has caused a massive cultural shift. It's messy, non-sanitised and sweaty fun - a far cry from the popstars and their often gimmicky shows that have become all too familiar to us.
"It's okay to just admit that you're jealous of me," the bratty line from Von Dutch that everyone in attendance will be saying to those who haven't witnessed brat live.
Charli once was an act that would be wedged somewhere on the daytime festival line-up, most probably just for crowd pleaser of a first hit I Love It, with not much thought given for her other 10-year roster of work.
That's now going to change. The influence of brat is seismic and it's not going to settle down anytime soon.
Brat might have been born this summer, but it feels like 2025 will be the coming of age.
English (US) ·