Clubgoers, ravers, renegade ragers, and all who “J’adore Hardcore” Melbourne trance and the ‘cutting shapes’ style of London dance, poured out from Seattle Center’s suspended monorail station onto the Climate Pledge Arena’s International Lawn. The expansive field, adjacent to the venue with its lit LED fountain, was a perfect pre-show meeting point for rave baes flaunting their DIY brat meets couture trash fashion aesthetic before Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s sold-out PNW show, the last stop on their joint North American SWEAT tour.
As the crowd grew, old-school beats and new-school bangers pulsated through the venue’s open-air speakers. These party anthems provided a pounding rhythm for the perversely pouting, ever-giddy fans to channel their inner Miss Essex while power-stomping-runway-walking toward the ‘Climate Club’ - all in hopes of finding the shortest queue to experience the summerlong-awaited bash inside.
The pre-rave scene, albeit in Seattle – a city better known for Nirvana’s squiggly, X-eyed smiley than for EDM’s straightforward acid house smiley —had enough U.K. sensory similarities to evoke the sensation of exiting an East London Tube station and walking the streets to discover ‘the rager’ under the railway arches. While the vastness of the Climate Pledge Arena initially called to mind Ministry of Sound -the legendary London nightclub that tilts more toward touristy types than club kids - the preconceived visual interpolation was soon squelched as the venue’s lampy hit the switch. Suddenly biting brash sound blips and bright white strobes ignited, showcasing the SWEAT stage. The scene, Charli and Troye’s club, a warehouse-like space featuring giant multi-tiered scaffolding and a tunnel leading to the dancefloor below. The setup, a perfect area for devoted fans to show their trenchant brat attitudes with an “I don’t care’ exhibitionist flair.
The strobes continued to blast in time as Troye and his set of strapped dancers hit the stage with “Got Me Started” from 2023’s Something to Give Each Other. The track’s infectious groove, combined with his troupe’s hyper-synchronous, evocative dance moves, put the entire venue in a celebratory mood. His slinky micro-set – a collection of three songs - ended with the dreamy “My My My” from 2018’s Bloom, which made an excellent segue just as another round of ear-splattering electro-lux sounds drew all eyes toward the tunnel top stage. There, Charli’s signature acid-green brat banner magically appeared. Seconds later, it fell to the ground revealing the no-holds-barred singer/songwriter who dares to defy today’s norm of what it means to be a bona fide female pop star.
Charli raging in full stiletto boots, didn’t hold back. Singing the superfast “365” party girl remix from this year’s brat and its completely different but also still brat, the club chanteuse ensnared the sold-out crowd with club-inducing vivaciousness, making the entire venue jump in time with Day-Glo gloved hands in the air and vibrate from the ground up. Shygirl, the brilliant opening act, was brought out on stage to accompany Charli for the last chorus. The pairing amplified the contagious song’s dance until the dawn party anthem.
XCX’s three-song subset, including “360” and “Von Dutch,” both from this spring’s brat pushed out hyper full-based beats signaling the evening would not be slowing down. Charli commanded the stage alone throughout the entirety of the show. Her raw vitality was captured by a lone cameraman following her through the throes of the night’s makeshift underground warehouse studio. The effect allowed fans, no matter how far away from the stage, to feel as if they were Charli’s rave bae as she moved through the club.
The vacillating micro-sets between Troye and Charli –including a wide range of wardrobe changes - created a fun guessing game for the audience making them wonder what ‘drip girl’ outfit would appear next. In addition, the rhythmic switched-up subsets produced a virtual experience for concertgoers, allowing them to visualize Troye and Charli’s club time flow, two friends navigating different night-to-dawn adventures and periodically meeting up to compare notes. The result made for a wonderfully well-paced and entertaining show.
Moreover, each mini-set highlighted a plethora of hits made complete with several knockout moments. Charli’s stellar performances of “Sympathy Is a Knife” and “Girl, so confusing,” both anthemic tracks from brat, exploring the inner dagger-like-dark complexities of females navigating their way in an ever more cannibalistic social media-driven world, were two standouts. Hyper-electro club beats, however, rode to the top for most of the show and provided maximalist, spitfire-like fun. The sparky “I Love It” and the hyperpop “Vroom, Vroom” were two of many fan favorites. The latter had everyone screaming its irresistible “beep, beep so let’s ride” chorus. The entirety of Troye’s sets included provocative lyrics meshed with spectacular singing and dancing, but the Ibiza, house-beat-infused “Rush,” complete with a coordinated keg stand, had a few concertgoers mimicking the sextet of dancers moves.
Similar to all-night raves, the fans could have danced until dawn, making the arrival of the encore seem almost unthinkable. Charli and Troye resolved this with their flirty and fun, glitchy beat brat duet, “Talk talk,” serving as the last drop of the night. Their embrace as the house lights turned up showcased the admiration the two performers have for one another and embodied the PLUR rave principle: peace, love, unity, and respect. While the ‘Climate Club’ rave was over, the mantra was readily felt following fans as they headed to various ‘afters’- but of course infused with a smidge of Charli’s strong sense of self-worth and can’t be bothered attitude.
SETLIST
Act I - Troye Sivan
Got Me Started-
What's the Time Where You Are?
My My My!
Act I - Charli XCX
365
360
Von Dutch
Act II - Troye Sivan
In My Room
Dance to This
Rager teenager!
Act II - Charli XCX
Club classics
Unlock It
Sympathy Is a Knife
Guess
Act III - Troye Sivan
Bloom
Act III - Charli XCX
Spring breakers
Girl, so confusing
Act IV - Troye Sivan
The Call
One of Your Girls
Act IV - Charli XCX
Everything is romantic
Speed Drive
Apple
Act V - Troye Sivan
Silly
You
STUD
Act V - Charli XCX
365
Vroom Vroom
Act V - Charli XCX & Troye Sivan
1999
Encore - Charli XCX
Track 10
I Love It
Encore - Troye Sivan
Honey
Rush
Encore - Charli XCX & Troye Sivan
Talk talk
