Standing behind a curtain, the spotlight shining brightly upon her, the silhouette of this year’s buzziest pop star is etched in shadow. Roars erupt as the curtain drops, revealing… a drummer pounding on the snares, before those signature breathy vocals of PinkPantheress cut through – such a cheeky misdirect that foreshadows the natural comedy that flows later in the night. She serenades the crowd with ‘Stateside’ in a cute corset dress with a frilly, twisted hem in tartan – the stylistic theme of the night, which manifests everywhere: the drapes, the lighting colours, even the graphics.
From there, the set at the O2 Academy Brixton unfolds like a hyperactive scrapbook of her career. Gone are the days when Pink would ban cameras in 200-cap rooms, too nervous to face flashing iPhones. Now she’s flanked by “the Pinkettes” – dancers doubling as her stage besties – as she sings her earlier songs (‘Just For Me’ and ‘I Must Apologise’) with a confidence that took time to find in a prideful full-circle moment, a reward for the OGs who’d been there since her very first uploads.
Camp rules the night. A breakdancing superfan? Sure. A voguing interlude to a mash-up of ‘Turn It Up’ and LE SSERAFIM’s ‘Crazy’? Absolutely. Her DJ even shuffles out mid-set to tap-dance to Pink’s collaboration with Sam Gellaitry, ‘Picture In My Mind’, only for her to boast: “I’m the only person who has a DJ who can tap dance – I’m TMing it. I’m trademarking it!”
During ‘Stars’, there’s a small moment where she flexes her pinky and thumb to fake a phone call, and she mimes gossiping with her Pinkettes, acting out girl-gang camaraderie – all feeling like mini comedy skits. Even throwaway lines – like bragging about being on her old school’s alumni and Wikipedia page, or all the alternative names she came up with for her gifted “Lafufu” while on stage – land like stand-up. It’s a gig, yes, but it also feels like theatre in a messy, hilarious – brilliant – way.
And the music matched the same level as the theatrics. The new arrangements of her more well-known and (realistically) overplayed hits pack a heftier punch with their new revamps. ‘Boys a Liar Pt. 2’’s Jersey bassline is beefed up to a bone-rattling ten, with the crowd belting Ice Spice’s verse like it was theirs. ‘Mosquito’ spun into a samba breakdown, seeing Pink and the Pinkettes cha-cha – turning the O2 Brixton into a salsa bar. The encore – a rave-ready remix of ‘Illegal’ – is so frenetic and mindboggling that we feel flung into the afters without leaving the venue.
By the end, when the cast bowed and hugged onstage, the night felt less like a polished pop spectacle and more like a madcap show-and-tell with a superstar host. It may not have reinvented the live experience, but it proved PinkPantheress’ real gift: she knows how to turn a massive venue into something intimate, funny and unhinged.
PinkPantheress played:
‘Illegal’
‘Stateside’
‘Noises’
‘Nice to Know You’
‘I Must Apologise’
‘Break It Off’
‘Just For Me’
‘Take Me Home’
‘Pain’
‘Nice to Meet You’
‘The Aisle’
‘Another Life’
‘Capable of Love’
‘True Romance’
‘Snap My Finger (DJ mix)’
‘Crazy (DJ mix)’
‘Turn It Up (DJ mix)’
‘Girl Like Me’
‘Tonight’
‘Stars’
‘Angel’
‘Mosquito’
‘Romeo’
‘Boys a Liar Pt. 2’
‘Passion’
‘Picture in My Mind’
‘Illegal’ (encore remix)