Lily Allen @ Metro City
w/ Japanese Wallpaper
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Lily Allen was my ‘rebellion’ phase. With a slight cockney accent she said fuck a lot and talked about boys not returning the favour during foreplay. The grit in her songs woke us up to what happens behind closed doors on a global scale and all the while with a smile on her face. She was my teenage idol so her performance at Metro City on Tuesday was, obviously, a must see.
Melbourne-grown Japanese Wallpaper greet a speckled dancefloor and a few others filtering through the higher levels. Finding his feet through Triple J Unearthed at quite the young age, I’ve managed to catch Gab possibly every time he has blessed Perth with his euphoric and gentle tones. Just like Cocoon his sound envelopes you and heightens that touch sensation. His stage presence is still fairly awkward but that gentle and meek disposition suits his sound and his new support Georgia Smith is an absolute goddess. Is it too bold to say that she did better than Airling in singing Forces? With a cute story to thank Lily Allen’s manager for the carrot and ginger juice so that his voice was saved they dove into a stunning rendition of Don’t Dream it’s Over that melted my black stone heart. Seriously.
My previously aforementioned concerns of the crowd became null and void in the 30 mins leading up to the star act and the enormity of the audience was amplified in typical Metro City fashion, with punters hanging over the banisters of every corner. As the minutes grew closer a chant of “LILY- FKN-ALLEN” grew louder.
In neon orange eye makeup, a long trashy weave, adidas track pants and stilettos, Lily Allen was everything I’d imagined and hoped for. I’d never reduce women or artists to what they wear but her get up said controversial, it said badass and it said ‘just try me’ which is exactly how she begun, singing “Yeah I’m a bad mother, I’m a bad wife, you saw it on the socials, you saw it online” for Go On Then.
The blissfully sunny and unmistakable trumpets of LDN rang out as we were reminded of the coveted dark underside of her music and everyone called back “ALFRESCO!” Also with a croaky voice she apologised for not being able to hit the lower registers as she chugged down the emergency delivered teas and juices for her Like a Version cover of Lykke Li’s Deep End.
“This song is about the dissolution of my marriage,” followed by a cute leg pop was how she introduced an acoustic version of Family Man, her dry sense of humour thinly veiled by the honey sweetness of her voice.
In a similar way she discussed the “uprising of the right wing who are infiltrating society through social media with people who are already rich flying around in private jets becoming influencers” and she went on to say, “I wrote this 10 years ago – I was talking about it then and you should listened to me then – duhhh!” before seguing into The Fear.
She wrapped up well and with the loudest and longest encore I’d yet to experience and she thankfully came back with the simple sweet Apples. Although there is a very real issue with female artists having an expiry date in the music industry, Lily Allen said a big Fuck You to that notion (as well as to Donald Trump and Liam Neeson) as she left the stage with as much grace and delight. Doin’ it for the girls, she is!
Words and photos by
MIA CAMPBELL-FOULKES
