At a period of time where our modern pop stars are defined by their 'eras', tonight's Charli XCX show (2 March) sees her most dedicated fans witness something truly one-of-a-kind: The end of one.
As revealed by the chameleonic starlet between songs, this Melbourne show is officially the final headlining show in support of her 2022 album 'Crash'.While Charli's previous LP, 2020's 'How I'm Feeling Now', was heavily anchored to its pandemic creation, 'Crash' felt like her most free-wheeling and unabashedly ambitious album in sometime – a comeback from someone who's been here for years.
That sense of confidence – lightning in a bottle, if you will – is perfectly captured in the show itself, when Charli struts onto centre-stage and fittingly plugs directly into 'Lightning'.
Flanked by two breathless back-up dancers, her shades-at-night cool is matched with a club-raver energy and arena rock-stardom.
She's at a position in her career where she can stick the microphone out at any point of one of her songs and have an audience filling in every gap for her – something she's not afraid to indulge in more than once across the evening.
Even with those indulgences taken into consideration, the other key aspect of the show worth honing in on is its relative simplicity.
There are some strong accompanying visuals, yes, not to mention a powerful lighting rig that takes charge when the moment calls for it. However, there's no huge backing band, no dance troupe, no confetti cannons, no CO2 steam, no overarching theatrical concept.
When you see Charli and the two dancers in full choreographed flight, it's what you get. Besides, when you have songs that can set a room alight in the way that hyperpop anthem 'Vroom Vroom' and the glitchy ballad 'Track 10' can, there's no need to gild the lily.
If there's any real issue with the show tonight, it can be summed up in three words: Location, location, location. While an impressive looking room, Northcote Theatre has a beguiling setup that sees a bar taking up nearly the entire middle of the room and creating a horse-shoe formation around the audience on the floor.
This means that if you haven't staked out a spot early – which was already an unfair advantage, given you could pay $30 extra for early entry into the venue – you're left craning your neck for much of the evening trying to catch a glimpse of our heroine in action.
Furthermore, while it's admirable to create an intimate space (capacity 1,500) for fans to get relatively up-close and personal with Charli, it feels like a missed opportunity to not have the final night be a bigger blow-out of sorts.
That's not to say this show would work better in one of Melbourne's multiple tennis-arena venues – John Cain, Margaret Court, Rod Laver – but it still feels as though a happier medium could have been struck in order to deliver the best possible send-off for 'Crash' and its subsequent live tour.
Venue grievances and set-list nitpicks aside (seriously, 'Boom Clap' gets a run but 'I Love It' and 'Hot In It' don't?), this 90-minute and 20-song marathon is nevertheless a victory lap for one of the most consistent and intriguing artists working today.
She zigs when you expect a zag, changes the questions when you think you know all the answers, and can do it all while still going pound-for-pound with any hitmaker you position against her.
As the bass of closer 'Good Ones' rattles the walls of the theatre and the dancing rattles the floorboards, you're just glad to be baring witness to something so tangibly seismic in nature.
It's Charli, baby, and it's her world. We're just living in it.
