Review: Last year's breakthrough artist, Charli XCX, brought it to Auckland at the Laneway Festival on Waitangi Day.
The "it" I'm talking about was on full display at the Grammy Awards only three days ago when Charli XCX performed her hits "Von Dutch" and "Guess" with a stage rave that was meters away from the likes of Beyonce and Taylor Swift. The club party girl also took out three Grammys including best dance/electronic album for her 2024 album Brat.
Now, here she was before us, a humbler crowd but a larger one with thousands coming to Western Springs Stadium for the festival. Charli XCX hit the stage at about 8.45 pm, the headlining artist in a lineup that included singer-songwriter Clairo, dance music star DJ Barry Can't Swim and indie-grunge songstress beabadoobee. She was welcomed to a shaky start, with some festival goers waiting in long lines to get in following a glitch.
Charli XCX at the Laneway Festival in Auckland. Photo: Serena.solomon@rnz.co.nz
"What the f*** is this Auckland?" yelled Charli XCX, at the start of her set as she transported us into the Brat universe (most of her sentences had some sort of profanity).
As she sang her hit, 360, she gyrated her hips and we screamed. She shook her ass at the crowd and we screamed. She crawled on the ground and we screamed. She shook her ass again and we screamed.
Charli XCX wore her signature look - a tiny, sassy skirt, high black boots, a cropped black top and sunglasses. It was an unoffical dress code that had been mimicked by many in the crowd.
Charli XCX at the Laneway Festival. Photo: Serena.solomon@rnz.co.nz
At one moment, she slowed down the pace of her set for some real talk.
"I just had the most stressful week of my life at the Grammys. I couldn't be happier to be with you."
"This is the important shit."
It's the type of honesty that is in her lyrics such as the song I Might Say Something Stupid where she sang along with the crowd "I don't feel like anything special."
But those at Laneway weren't just there to hear Charli XCX. They were there to be part of a cultural phenomenon that the album Brat started after its June 2024 release. It became the sound of the Western Hemisphere's summer.
The album's theme revelled in being messy, a welcomed counterweight to the years of polished celebrity and influencer culture beamed to us through Instagram. It became known as Brat Summer.
One of her fans at the festival, Shelly Liang, saw Charli XCX as empowering.
"Girls can wear whatever they want and she [Charli XCX] is showing that," said Liang, who wore baggy jorts with a bikini top to Laneway.
Shelly Liang (right) with Kelsey Wilde. Photo: RNZ / Serena Solomon
Earlier in the festival, the hot sun had a mellowing effect with any available shade taken up by someone. The dreamy tunes of Clairo paired perfectly with a slowly setting sun and started to get more people on their feet.
Over at the smaller stage, a DJ set from Hamdi belted out soul-shaking beats, no doubt spilling out into the upmarket suburbs around Western Springs Stadium. The crowd jump with their hands in the air, sporadic steam from vapes shooting up.
The NZ Drug Foundation was busy with its free drug testing service, helping revellers know if their drugs had hidden and dangerous ingredients. By 5pm, the services had tested "hundreds" of drugs with the drug of choice being mostly MDMA followed by cocaine, said Hayden Eastmond-Mein, the foundation's communications director.
Beabadoobee at the Laneway Festival. Photo: Serena Solomon/RNZ
Beabadoobee went on the main stage at 6.40 pm. It was nice to hear someone with a band, a juxtaposition to the viral songs of TikTok that always seem to be produced by a teenager in their bedroom mashing together noises with a computer.
For a moment, Laneway felt like the Warped Tour, the rock tour of the 90s and 2000s that launched bands such as Blink-182. Beabadoobee kept her guitar techs busy, switching instruments between almost every song.
The energy kept building as the crowd got thicker at the main stage in anticipation of Charli XCX. Scottish DJ Barry Can't Swim warmed the people up further before the headlining act.
But the night belonged to Charli XCX and she shared it with everyone. She strutted in her high-heeled boots at crowd level, high-fiving the front row.
Her last song was "I love it," Charli XCX's 2012 collaboration with Swedish synth-pop duo Icona Pop. The crowd jumped and yelled every lyric along with Charli XCX.
"I don't care, I love it," we all screamed.
