Live Review: Lily Allen at Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Lily Allen. Photo credit: Emma Louise Smith
October has been a big month of pop music in Brisbane, Magandjin. The likes of Zara Larsson and Hilary Duff have brought a balance of nostalgia and fresh, renewed energy in equal measures.
Last Friday, October 23, it was Lily Allen’s turn, touring ‘West End Girl’ the semi autobiographical concept album based around the highly publicised end of her relationship. No stranger to media frenzy, it’s unsurprising that Lily Allen could harness the chaos that followed her divorce into one of 2025’s most anticipated pop albums.
The setlist for this tour comprises of the album tracks performed in order, in a style that falls somewhere between gig and musical. Allen’s past hits were performed instead by the support, The Dallas Minor Sextet. Six cellists and a conductor brought together specifically for these shows. Although I miss the original rocksteady-pop version of ‘Smile’ other tracks like ‘LDN’ work amazingly well in a string arrangement. It's a fun juxtaposition between the string section and Allen’s lyrics, particularly on tracks like “Hard Out Here”. I can’t help but wonder if Allen is just behind the curtain listening to the audience singing “My dear mon frère”, “I believe that it's called al fresco” and "For a bitch it's hard (for a bitch, for a bitch)” in an unmistakably Australian accent.
After an epic intro of flashing lights and rumbling sub bass, the words ‘West End Girl’ lit up in neon, Allen steps out on her own, greeting the audience with a twirl. The bold, cheeky and tough Lily Allen we’ve come to know is replaced with a more vulnerable, private version of herself, allowing her fans to catch glimpses of fragility in moments between the first few songs including the title track, ‘West End Girls’, ‘Ruminating’ and ‘Sleepwalking’.
By the time ‘Tennis’ starts Allen is more fired up and so are the crowd, especially after the final line, “No, but who is Madeline, actually”? It’s nice to see Allen back having fun on stage switching accents while playing the roles of both herself and Madeline throughout. The UK garage influenced ‘Relapse’ keeps the energy high as the set reaches its peak on crowd favourite ‘Pussy Palace’. ‘4chan Stan’ sees Allen draping herself with larger than life versions of hand written letters and receipts for her ex-husband’s alleged gifts to other women. The stage work throughout the show is impressive, with sets unfolding and shapeshifting like one big magic trick. Going from a lonely Allen with nothing else but a landline on stage, to aimlessly staring into a fridge bored in an apartment, to lying on a chaise lounge and even sitting atop of a triple tiered cake in the track ‘Dallas Major’.
As Allen prepared backstage for the last act of her show, confetti danced around two disco balls above the crowd, spinning slowly towards the ground. Upon her return to the stage
‘Beg For Me’, ‘Let You W/In’ and ‘Fruityloop’ closed out the set. I wonder how many people at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre knew what to expect, as I mentioned this show was no ordinary concert. The fact however that Allen was able to command an audience alone on stage was impressive and though the brief moments in interludes where lights were flashing on an empty stage occasionally felt like a lull, those moments were short lived and the crowd were ecstatic from the moment she took to the stage again.
Photo gallery by Emma Louise Smith
