Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.abc.net.au
Lily Allen hasn’t performed in Australia since 2019 — but this week’s West End Girl tour was worth the wait.
Over two nights, the storied British pop star performed for thousands at Sydney’s TikTok Entertainment Centre.
Allen’s newest album was re-imagined as a highly theatrical one-woman show.
She begins in a hotel room, all on her own, before re-enacting every song on the semi-autobiographical concept album for almost an hour.
This is what triple j had to say about the West End Girl tour’s Sydney stage debut.
Christine
“The show opened with a cello ensemble playing Lily’s old bangers, accompanied by a diva conductor who revved up the crowd up to scream out her hits.”
“Who needs therapy when you can yell ‘Fuck You’ in solidarity with a group of strangers?”
“Then, Lily turned to her new tracks, giving the gig a cool theatrical twist that felt super intimate. Loved every minute. Such a cool experience.”
Emma
“We know Lily Allen the icon, and Lily Allen the popstar, but through the West End Girl tour we met Lily Allen the actor — and damn is she a good one!”
“Never breaking character, she invited us to her one-woman theatre performance where we got to cry with her and laugh with her and ask with her, ‘who the fuck is Madeline?'”
“10/10 show for a 10/10 album and a 10/10 woman!”
Emi
“West End Girl as a one-woman theatre play: scathing, silly and glamorous.”
“Lily Allen invited us into her chic apartment to tell her heartbreaking story with class and humour.”
“Each vignette brought a new revenge dress and a reminder that, even after seven years away, her pen game is sharper than ever. DIVA.”
Eva
“This show felt like a masterclass in how to perform authentically to the artist, without leaving the audience on the outs.”
“I think most artists would love to leave the hits behind, playing their new piece of work exactly as intended, but feel they’d let the audience down.”
“Lily Allen’s West End Girl show proved that’s not the case, taking us with her on the journey, enveloping us into her pink carpeted world. More tours like this please!”
Hannah
“Seeing Lily Allen perform her West End Girl album front to back is a lesson to all musicians.”
“Yes, we love to hear the hits, but experiencing music as a body of work has never been more special than at this show.”
Jordan
“I had such a great time at the West End Girl show. Just like the album, she comes right out of the gate with this story and it feels like you’re brought into her world.”
“The lavish and GORGEOUS set dressing… felt like a beautifully furnished prison.”
“A pleasure to relive that album and to be in a sea of previously deceived women in ‘AND WHO THE FUCK IS MADELINE?’ shirts. Get him, girls.”
Luka
“I’m so into the fact that a huge popstar like Lily Allen gets to have this new chapter of her life and career where she makes this album that’s raw and vulnerable and JUICY.”
“… Seeing it come to life on stage was so fun and satisfying and moving.”
Sarah
“Maybe the finest one-woman show I’ve seen since Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag.”
“You don’t need an enormous budget or non-stop audience interaction to command a room.”
“If Lily’s stagecraft is anything to go by, she’ll never need to audition for anything ever again, let alone an Off-Broadway play. Talk about winning the break-up.”
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