Review: Charli XCX at Sheffield's O2 Academy delivers energetic performance and leaves fans screaming for more

The show at Sheffield’s O2 Academy was kicked off by support act yeule, whose melodic songs got the crowd ready for the main act.
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Excitement built as Charli XCX’s introduction track came on to white lightning strobes all over the stage.

The British songwriter started the show with her hit song Lightning from her new album Crash to the excited screams of the audience at Sheffield’s O2 Academy.

Charli XCX (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS)Charli XCX (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS)
Charli XCX (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS)
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She opened it with a banger and showed off her incredible dance moves with background dancers Nathan and Grant, who accompanied her for half the show.

Apart from the trio, the stage was empty but Charli’s energy and charisma filled up the stage and vibrated all the way to the last rows.

She danced in perfect sync with her background performers and managed to flirt with the crowd while singing her pitch-perfect lines to Lightning.

Her main set included songs like Move Me, Constant Repeat, Baby, Yuck, Every rule and Used to Know Me, all of which feature on her newest album Crash.

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She saved the title track Crash for the very end of her main set and ended it on a bang, with the crowd jumping along with her.

At no concert have I heard fans sing to the artist’s songs as Charli’s fans did to hit song 1999 – every word she sang was echoed by every single member of the crowd.

Throughout her set, Charli interacted with the crowd, winked at them and even dedicated her show to one of her longest-standing fans in the first row.

Impressively, she did her whole performance including elaborate dances with not more than a two-minute break between every few songs and after the breaks she came back on stage

wearing yet another body-hugging outfit.

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After minutes of ‘Charli’ chants, the singer came back out to give her audience another four songs, which takes her setlist to 20 songs across the concert.

She started off with her 2016 single Vroom Vroom and ended with Crash’s Good Ones while repeatedly thanking her audience for their support.

It was very clear it wasn’t just her fans who had a great time, since every time Charli wasn’t singing, a smile crept on her lips and she kept screaming how “f***ing sick” the crowd is.

Many fans who went to her Manchester show a week before said they were worlds apart due to Sheffield’s atmosphere being more intimate and interactive.

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Off the stage, I encountered one of the nicest crowds – no one elbowed each other for space and I even made a few new friends.

My friend, who didn’t know many of Charli’s songs apart from her standout hits Boom Clap and 1999, said the performance was so captivating that she soon saw herself dancing along

with the crowd.

For both of us, Charli’s concert was one of the best we have ever attended, and her energy and charisma on stage are unmatched.