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Jonathan Coll enjoys a theatrical night of honest storytelling and atmospheric sing-alongs courtesy of Lily Allen
Image by Henry Redcliffe
The demand for Lily Allen’s West End Girl tour has been astonishing; a one-woman show which sets her latest album against a backdrop of live storytelling and musical theatre. The latest stop on the road was in Newcastle’s O2 City Hall, who hosted one of British pop music’s most iconic stars after a lengthy hiatus. Lily Allen has branched out into podcasts and acting; courting no small amount of controversy over the last few years, and she has remained a fixture in the UK’s musical zeitgeist.
West End Girl, which arrived last year to universal critical acclaim, is an album wrought with pain and controversy. It speaks to a particularly traumatic break-up in gruesome detail. As a result, and for one night at least, David Harbour was a deeply unpopular figure in NE1.
It’s a story worth telling, and Lily Allen has spoken recently about the influence of The Streets’ seminal 2004 album A Grand Don’t Come For Free which follows a similarly compelling narrative arc.
For her latest tour, there’s been a little bit of consternation about the length of the performance itself, with the last notes of Fruityloop coming just before the hour mark. We did still have the opportunity to sing along to some Lily Allen classics with a slightly unusual, if thoroughly enjoyable, rendition by a string trio with the lyrics projected on screen. Hits included Alfie, Not Fair, Smile and Fuck You; scratching the itch for fans of her earlier material. School assembly sing-along discos are a distinctly 2020s phenomenon, and a similar atmosphere was cultivated here.
The main performance itself was exactly what it purported to be; and it’s one that does an exceptional job of bringing the album to life. The staging and set design were magnificent, with changes to the stage composition and lighting matching the flow of the album. There were costume changes and, even more surreally, a few puffs on a vape which had been placed in a fridge to the left hand side of the stage. Also magnificent was Lily’s voice; having toured somewhat sporadically over the last two decades, and considering this was her first full UK tour in seven years, she sounded fantastic.
This was an excellent transformation of a much-loved gig venue into a bespoke theatre set, which was rounded off with Lily returning to stage for the curtain call bow. She received a bouquet of flowers and a richly deserved, emotional, standing ovation.
