Lily Allen
Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
Friday, October 23rd
The last time Lily Allen toured Australia was a full pandemic ago, selling out intimate venues with her 2018 album, No Shame. Seven years later, Allen made a bold re-entry into the popular culture zeitgeist with the release of West End Girl, which saw her take tabloid rumours into her own hands with the chronological concept album that follows a marital descent into insecurity and insanity at the hands of deceit and infidelity.
Earlier this week, Allen cancelled the first show of her Australian and New Zealand run in Auckland, citing a viral infection, which gave Brisbane the pleasure of being the first crowd in the region to experience ‘Lily Allen Performs West End Girl.’
The night began with six seats and music stands lining the front of the stage, which were later filled by Allen’s very own Dallas Minor Sextet (formerly ‘Dallas Minor Trio’). Wordlessly, the cellists assumed their starting position and began playing “The Fear,” as lyrics appeared across the screens and the conductor faced the crowd. The audience sang along word-for-word without hesitation, embracing the non-traditional opening act with a chorusing Aussie attempt at Allen’s British accent.
The Dallas Minor Sextet took audiences on a Bridgerton-esque nostalgia trip through Allen’s discography, executing flawless string arrangements of hits including “LDN,” “Not Fair,” “Hard Out Here,” “Smile” and “Fuck You.”
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A playlist of new Olivia Rodrigo cuts and throwbacks, including CSS, set the tone for the night ahead, before the boom of a pulsing heartbeat echoed through the crowd, and a bold ‘West End Girl’ sign went up in lights. As the stage light twinkled, it became increasingly clear that this show would be an experience for the ages.
A single spotlight shone as Lily Allen stepped onstage through velvet green stage curtains, twirling in a gold minidress as she started the night with the titular song. Allen demonstrated her commitment to her performance as she stayed in character through the crowd’s cheers, lifting a landline to her ear to take the tone-setting “West End Girl” phone call on a sparkling staircase.
Allen cycled through her 2025 concept album track-by-track, establishing her pop diva demeanour with the pulsing lights that emulated the insomniac-fuelled overthinking on “Ruminating,” before pulling back half of the stage curtain to lounge on a couch while performing “Sleepwalking.” “I know you’ve made me your Madonna // I wanna be your whore” she sang, slipping out of her dress and kicking her feet whilst lying on the couch.
Pulling back the rest of the curtain, Allen revealed the first full stage arrangement of the evening as she donned an eloquent robe and posed on a bed to “Tennis.” The first question of “And who’s Madeline?” sent the crowd into a frenzy, before Allen dived into the song named for the fictional mistress of her husband’s desire.
“Madeline” saw the crowd at their loudest of the night, as Allen gave her Australian debut of the character’s valley girl accent whilst in conversation with herself. Though there was no audience spotlight or hand-selected ‘Madeline’ star tonight, this performance was clearly a high point of the set.
“Relapse” saw Allen acting erratically as she searched through bags and rifled through the fridge, stopping to vape while singing of the detrimental urge to depend on drugs and alcohol in trying times.
The stage fell dark to signal the shift into the album’s latter half, as the photo-frame screens adorning the stage played a slideshow of inner-city snapshots before Allen stepped back onstage. Removing her boots, Allen rifled through boxes of belongings and sex toys during “Pussy Palace,” the song’s anguish echoed in every lyric sung by the crowd.
“4chan Stan” saw the performance art reach new heights as Allen wore a cape emblazoned with receipts for money spent on other women, before wrapping it around her head to emulate the suffocating discovery of deceit. Entering the acceptance phase, Allen tied on an apron branded “cuck” and tossed a novelty range of items out of the fridge (including an inflatable crocodile) as she danced to “Nonmonogamummy.”
An emotional performance of “Just Enough” saw fans illuminating the venue with waving phone torch lights, before the stage turned pink for “Dallas Major.” Singing about dating under a moniker, Allen moved from a fluffy swing to a rising three-tiered cake platform, swinging from side to side whilst singing “she used to be quite famous…she’s just here for validation.”
A cloud of pink confetti blanketed the crowd as light refracted off two disco balls, with multicoloured strobes ushering in the final chapter of the evening. Allen strutted onto the stage in a sparkling white minidress, performing fan favourite “Beg For Me” amongst an elaborate backdrop arrangement of lampshades and chandeliers.
“Let You W/In” saw Allen lying onstage and singing to the audience, before collapsing flat on her back with the closing sentiment of “Why should I let you win?” The show closed with the parting track of the album, “Fruityloop,” with Allen centre stage as she surmised the emotional rollercoaster of the night with a simple “It’s not me, it’s you.” Allen addressed the crowd directly for the first time before leaving the stage, with a simple “Thank you, Brisbane” that triggered cheers throughout the room.
‘Lily Allen Performs West End Girl’ was wrongly branded as a concert; it’s more of a theatrical experience, akin to a live rock opera. Fans clung to the barricade, expecting a singalong show and were instead met with Allen’s elaborate performance of her concept album and the story of marital collapse and a woman’s mental descent into comparison and overthinking at the hands of a gluttonous man. There are very few who could execute a live experience like this, and luckily, Lily Allen proved to Brisbane last night that she could.
