Though I’ve been to a handful of concerts by myself; for some reason when the Sweat Tour came to town in September 2024, I got nervous about going by myself. I think because the concert was promoted as this huge, mega party, I got nervous about going to a party by myself.
Also, my money was tight at the time, which would continue to be a trend for the rest of the year. So, I missed the Charli xcx and Troye Sivan headlined concert and my FOMO for it for the rest of the year was absolutely bad!
As my fellow pop culture savants know, in a year that gave us a ton of fun and memorable moments with a terrific soundtrack, Brat Summer especially stood out following the release of Charli’s album Brat.
The princess of hyper pop’s choice of a distinct, specific color of chartreuse meets lime green and the minimal computer black font was inescapable amongst Sabrina Carpenter’s hyper-feminine aesthetic, Chappell Roan’s fantastic old school theatre and drag makeup and the tilt of Beyonce’s cowboy hat as she ushered in her Cowboy Carter era. And that was just the tip of the pop iceberg that was music in 2024. It was one for the books! Every year brings great music, I truly believe that. But wow, 2024 was magical for our speakers. Even in the moment, I realized I hadn’t been that excited by pop music in a singular year in some time!
So when Charli announced a mini arena tour for Brat in 2025, continuing the momentum post the Grammy Awards, I kept an eye on the dates and ticket prices. After her Coachella weekend two performance, I felt even more compelled to attend one of the Brooklyn, NY shows and Saturday, May 3rd was selected as the most convenient date for me.
I’ve always liked Charli’s music. From her last album, Crash, I was obsessed with her track “New Shapes” with Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek. And from Charli, “Gone” with Christine and the Queens was ON REPEAT.
If I’m not drained by the time I’m done editing, I’ll list my fave Charli songs below.!
I got my ticket for Night 3 three days before the show (BRAT was scheduled for four shows in early May at the Barclays Center) and made plans to arrive mid-afternoon in New York and to leave for back home on a 1 or 2AM bus.
(This is just a day in the life when it comes to me traveling to and back from New York City, BTW!)
I was excited for the show and by Friday evening was planning my outfit.
On TikTok, I had seen clips of the Angels (Charli’s fanbase) laying out their outfits for the concert, from the SWEAT Tour last year and the current Brat Arena tour, for the next day.
So, I chose to do a video too!
What was difficult was packing my bag for the day because I would have nowhere to safely store my stuff while out in Brooklyn and I also had to be mindful of my bag for Barclays Center entry.
I was going to force one of my other bags to work for me, but the bag looked visibly stuffed. I did fret for a bit, but eventually remembered and dug out one of my Gwen Stefani bags from her 2000s collection with LeSportsac. It was a great size for my essentials and Barclays friendly. (I actually found Barclays to be quite forgiving when it came to bags. Moreso, than most venues I’ve been to).
On Saturday, I took a late morning bus to New York, which was nice for a change, because I usually take a very early morning route, and had two seats to myself. I had brought with me a drink from Happy Lemon and had a few snacks to get me through until I was in Manhattan.
The bus ride was fine and I had about an hour to myself before meeting my friend in Brooklyn.
I was so thankful they were able to meet with me and we walked around Williamsburg, and got ice cream and later an early dinner before getting on the train to Barclays.
My friend wasn’t going to the show but was willing to come along with me to the arena. Once there, he wanted to attend the show too. The Angels outside of Barclays were super pumped and ready for Charli’s “Club Classics” and so many were dressed in their BRAT attire. A few others, for the flex, wore concert tees from Charli’s last which was for her album Crash.
But we couldn’t find an affordable ticket on the spot for the sold-out show for my friend.
After our goodbyes, I got in line, went through security and my green apple Monchichii and I were in Barclays. (You’ll see her below! I brought the bizarrely cute trinket with me because its fur is close to the BRAT green color and it was fitting that it had a green apple on its bib to go with Charli’s song “Apple”!)
The vibe inside Barclays was unbridled anticipation and after being directed to my seat, I had bought myself a great one after much frenzied research online! Whew!!
It had also been awhile since attending a show at Barclays. The last time I was in the building was for an Ariana Grande concert in the 2010s.
We all waited about 20 minutes as attendees were still trinkling in, and then Charli was on stage. The angels were officially lit! It seems most of us had a general idea of what her show would be like too based on her Coachella and SNL performances as of late. Meaning: minimal stage decorations and graphics, and no dancers or a band. Just Charli on stage, vibing and jamming by herself.
It’s a controversial choice apparently, and I believe it works for Charli. It’s another form of confidence and chutzpah on stage. It suits her.
“Forget that inside the icon, there’s still a young girl from Essex…”
“Girl, so confusing,” Charli xcx and Lorde
I had a great time at the show and Charli was a total commando of a movement she didn’t even see coming (and so earned at this point in her career!). I was glad I got to make up for missing the SWEAT Tour months earlier.
We all couldn’t wait for “Party 4 U,” five years later becoming a staple in her catalogue from her how I’m feeling now album that was released during COVID-19 in 2020.
It was a great weekend and I safely got back home in the wee hours (even though our bus had broken down and we had to wait to get help somewhere in Connecticut. I did my best to lay down comfortably even though at that point I was feeling a little restless).
Some of the Angels I briefly met were kind too! A few took pictures of my Monchichii because they thought it was cute, and one Angel, while I was re-arranging my bag and charging my phone, kneeled down to quickly hand me a charm bracelet. While it was a quick exchange, we shared smiles and once she was on her way, I got a better look at the bracelet. It spelled out Charli’s song “Unlock it.” It was so nice of the girl to give it to me and little does she know or assume, the bracelet is still on my inanimate furry friend.
BRAT SUMMER FOREVER
My fave Charli xcx songs (in no particular order):
“Roll With Me”
“Doing It” featuring Rita Ora
“Babygirl” featuring Uffie
“Lipgloss” featuring CupcaKKe
“Backseat” featuring Carly Rae Jepsen
“Unlock It” featuring Kim Petras and Jay Park
“Gone” featuring Christine and the Queens
“2099” featuring Troye Sivan
“New Shapes” featuring Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek
“Baby”
“Girls Night Out”
“Club classics”
“Von dutch”
“Apple”
“Mean girls”
“365”
“360” featuring Robyn and Yung Lean
“Sympathy is a knife” featuring Ariana Grande
“Von dutch” featuring Addison Rae and A.G. Cook
“Girl, so confusing” featuring Lorde
“B2b” featuring Tinashe
“Apple” featuring the Japanese House
“Break the Rules”
“Party 4 U”
“1 Night” with Mura Masa
“Dreamer” featuring Satarrah and Raye
“100 Bad (Remix)” Tommy Genesis with Charli xcx
“Constant Repeat”
Also, her fan-named, leaked, and still unofficially released album “XCX World” has some really great tracks on it. I hope it finds official release eventually.
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