Charli XCX
Malahide Castle, Co Dublin
★★★☆☆
Charli XCX’s breakthrough album, Brat, is a shin-kicking celebration of ambition, self-belief and apocalyptic beats, and her show at Malahide Castle has the same seismic energy.
But it isn’t the victory lap a highly partisan sell-out crowd might have anticipated, never quite achieving lift-off. Charli, at her best, soars like no other pop star. In Dublin she is largely earthbound. Framed by Malahide’s 12th-century pile, she is no queen of the castle.
“It’s so crazy to see all of these faces out here … I was kind of tired tonight, I was feeling a little low,” she says halfway through a trim, festival-length set that could do with an extra 20 minutes. “Then I stepped out and I saw you all and I was, like … damn ... damn. Dublin goes f**king hard for Charli XCX.”
But does the audience really carry her – or is she running to catch up with the most exhausting year of her life?
Twelve months ago the artist born Charlotte Aitchison became the sensation of the season with her Brat girl summer trend. Here was a love letter to messy womanhood with a lime-green theme. When she weighed in on behalf of Kamala Harris she even looked poised to influence the outcome of the US presidential election. In the event, Charli’s “kamala IS brat” Instagram post failed to meaningfully move the dial. Instead of bright green in the White House we got toxic orange, while Charli has graduated to being just another pop star in a world teeming with them.
She gives a good account of herself at this fun, upbeat gig, but it is no blockbuster, and while the unfussy stage show – mostly dry ice, green curtains – allows Charli to flex her personality, more presentational oomph might not go astray.
The songs, at least, are fantastic. Charli opens with the pogoing juggernaut 365 and then slips into a shimmery 360, where Auto-Tuned vocals combine with an understated synth line. With a focus on the Brat “era”, there isn’t an awful lot for diehards who have been with her across the past decade, though she does deliver a delightful Unlock It, from her best album, Pop 2, which she released in 2017.
Charli’s recent Coachella headliner featured a cameo by the New Zealand pop star Lorde, who duets with her on the gut-punchingly vulnerable remix of the single Girl, So Confusing. There is no such divine visitation in Malahide. Instead, Charli, moving down the walkway, encourages the fans to fill in on the Lorde bits.
Another treat is the Apple moment when, during the TikTok hit of the same name, she shouts out to a prominent fan. In other countries this segment has featured stars such as Chappell Roan and Jenna Ortega. Here the camera alights on a child up at the front of the crowd and a man dressed as an apple – though Apple Man quickly wins the battle for the attention of the camera, and the little girl is sent packing slightly.
Charli is in fine voice, even if her banter is largely limited to “Come on, Dublin … Where the f*** you at?” That energy is returned by the audience – some of whom presumably took advantage of the “Brat tat” temporary tattoos on offer down the road in Malahide town centre.
But the show catches Charli in the middle of a busy summer-festival tour, and, if the night is special for her fans, for the singer there is a sense that it is another day at the office. There is no faulting her performance, but more spectacular production values and a longer set time would take it to the next level.
Charli XCX plays Ormeau Park, Belfast, today as part of Belsonic 2025
