LIVE REVIEWS
There’s a moment in the middle of Sabrina Carpenter’s headline set at BST Hyde Park tonight (July 5) where, during a cheeky rendition of The Weather Girls’ iconic ‘It’s Raining Men’, the ominous clouds that have been looming over the park all day strain a little, and droplets of rain start to pepper the crowd. It’s the kind of divine timing you couldn’t write, but that’s the story of Carpenter’s career – everything seems to happen exactly when it’s supposed to.
It’s easy to forget the rapid ascent that Carpenter has achieved. Still, it was only two years ago that the pocket-sized singer stood on that same stage as a support act for K-pop girl group BLACKPINK, and now she’s carrying it herself for two sold-out nights to crowds of 65,000 each, and no one has ever looked more comfortable.
Opening the show, she bursts onto the stage in a bedazzled red bodysuit singing ‘Busy Woman’, which feels fitting for the point of her career she’s at right now. When Carpenter put out ‘Short n’ Sweet’ last year, many people found it surprising that it was her sixth studio album. She’d made minor waves with singles like ‘Nonsense’ and ‘Feather’, which both get a moment to shine in the setlist, but it was the release of the immediately omnipresent ‘Espresso’ that launched her into a kind of superstardom that is usually afforded to pop ingenues, not artists who’ve been plugging away for years.
With ‘Short n’ Sweet’, she perfected a corner of the pop girl landscape that’s all her own. It’s part Dolly Parton, part Betty Boop and part horned-up pocket rocket. It’s a cocktail that could curdle if not mixed correctly, but on stage, each facet of her performance personality feels perfectly honed. The show has the lens of a ’70s sex comedy, which is realised through its vintage-inspired mid-century apartment homage set and winking infomercial ads for her biggest songs. It’s also the kind of double-entendre-laced vibe that allows her to sing some of the horniest songs imaginable while the crowd around you is equal parts young-adult women feeling themselves and children fawning over her doll-like pop fantasy world.
Of course, that contradiction sometimes misses the mark. The announcement of her upcoming album, ‘Man’s Best Friend’, due out on August 29, whipped up a storm of controversy thanks to its cover, which sees Carpenter on her knees at the feet of a man while he pulls her hair. Discourse questioned whether her horny schtick had officially run out of road, but ‘Manchild’, the recently-released first single from the upcoming record, elicitsed one of the biggest responses of the night. Fans know every word and throw their arms in the air as they scream along with lyrics that lament the state of modern dating, proving that internet drama has no real sticking power in a field of powder-blue babydoll dresses.
From there, Carpenter cycles through a tight setlist that’s as much a showcase of her back catalogue as it is the kind of genre gymnastics she can do. She performs songs like ‘Coincidence’ and ‘Sharpest Tool’ from ‘Short n’ Sweet’ semi-acoustically, giving space to her trilling country-tinged vocals and quippy songwriting, while performances of ‘Because I Liked A Boy’ and ‘Couldn’t Make It Any Harder’ provide moments of belting catharsis.
But all of that feels like edging before the big release, which no doubt Carpenter could write an expertly cheeky lyric about. A ‘Parental Advisory’ warning emblazons the screen before ‘Bed Chem’, which Carpenter sings to a top-down camera as she lies on a bed. It’s the moment in her tour where she’s joined by a male dancer and some Austin Powers-esque shadow work with a screen that shows them enacting a sex position. This time, she invites two male dancers who kiss each other before they all fall into bed together. As the lights dim, a chorus of “Happy Pride!” breaks out in the crowd.
Then comes ‘Juno’, the big crescendo, where Carpenter does her usual bit of ‘arresting’ a hot person in the crowd. On tour, this slot is usually given to her celebrity friends and admirers, but this time, she chooses a fan who’s been warming the barricade all day. It’s a nice reminder that, though celebrity cameos make for good TikTok viral moments, there’s something much more genuinely heartwarming about seeing someone get noticed by their favourite artist.
Talking of viral stunts, Carpenter has been making waves on tour for picking new sex positions to act out as part of ‘Juno’ each night to the lyric “Have you ever tried this one?”, including a much-discussed Eiffel Tower in Paris. This time, she forgoes the bit to let off two t-shirt guns into the crowd, which is the same move she did at her most recent headline slot at Primavera Sound in Barcelona. Still, she’s far from censoring herself, as she corrals the crowd to sing “I’m so fucking horny” along with the lyrics at the top of their lungs, which may be one of the more joyful things you can experience in a field.
Finally comes ‘Espresso’, the moment even the slightly concerned dads in the crowd who are mentally figuring out how to explain the concept of bed chem to their 10-year-old daughters on the way home can’t help but bop along to. Fireworks shoot out of the stage as Carpenter sings the biggest song of her career, which is only a year old, but somehow feels like the only song ever made. It’s catapulted the singer from an artist orbiting the pop girl league tables to one of its reigning champs, but her command of this space is a testament to the years of graft it took to get there. All she needed was time.
‘Busy Woman’
‘Taste’
‘Good Graces’
‘Slim Pickins’
‘Manchild’
‘Coincidence’
‘Sharpest Tool’
‘Because I Liked A Boy’
‘It’s Raining Men’
‘Nonsense’
‘Couldn’t Make It Any Harder’
‘Feather’
‘Bed Chem’
‘Juno’
‘Please Please Please’
‘Don’t Smile’
‘Espresso’
When Lady Gaga steps onto the stage at The O2, towering above the crowd on the wide skirt of a deep red crinoline dress, it’s immediately obvious that this won’t be an ordinary Tuesday night. Known for never holding anything back, the theatrical pop visionary dives straight into world-building, transforming the arena into a surreal, camp horror setting. She faces off against another version of herself, surrounded at different moments by skeletons, witches and plague doctors.
“I must sing and build the walls to cradle my own space, and my own sound will grow the fortress of a home erased,” the two Gagas declare in unison before the grand entrance. What follows feels like a powerful reflection on the refuge and sense of belonging she has carved out with her music since her breakout moment with ‘Just Dance’ in 2008.
Aside from her newest release ‘Mayhem’, it’s the songs from her early records ‘The Fame’ (and its reissue ‘The Fame Monster’) and ‘Born This Way’ that take center stage. Although Gaga has reinvented herself many times over the years, it was those early projects and eras that built the groundwork for her artistic journey and gave her the freedom to experiment however she wished.
Lady Gaga credit: Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Live Nation
Her imagination and creative drive are fully on display tonight. One moment she’s sinking into the folds of her massive skirt, bursting out from a cage as ‘Abracadabra’ echoes around the venue. The next, she’s locked in a fierce duel with her chessboard “white queen” double during a striking performance of ‘Poker Face’. When she sings ‘Perfect Celebrity’, she moves into a sandpit, using it to show the complicated push and pull between love and resentment, gently holding and then violently gripping the skeleton lying beside her.
A breathtaking rendition of ‘Paparazzi’ keeps that feeling alive, as Gaga stumbles down the runway dressed in a white lace look partially covered with metal plates and crutches, like a knight stripped of its armor. The night is filled with imagery and layers of meaning, but she never loses sight of making it pure entertainment.
She also uses the moment to acknowledge the people who have supported her along the way. A triumphant ‘Born This Way’ becomes a tribute to the queer community. Gaga speaks from the heart, saying they have “inspired me for my whole career” and tells them, “You are so precious to me and to the world.” Sitting at the piano during the acoustic segment, she is clearly touched by the audience’s overwhelming love and takes a quiet moment to express her emotions.
Lady Gaga credit: Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Live Nation
“I feel very, very lucky to be here tonight,” she says, looking back at the first time she performed in the UK twenty years earlier. “I feel so humbled that, almost 20 years later, I’m still here.” After emotional versions of ‘Dance In The Dark’ and ‘The Edge Of Glory’, she asks the crowd, “If I come back 20 years from now – I’ll come back sooner – but will you come and see the show?”
There’s hardly a soul in the room who wouldn’t say yes, especially after a night this imaginative and flawlessly executed. Returning to full theatrical energy, Gaga leans into the absurd for ‘Bad Romance’, telling the crowd to “put your paws up” and showing off her hands with ridiculously long, sausage-like fingers, as if she’s stepped into a gothic version of a scene from Everything Everywhere All At Once.
As flames appear on top of the opera house behind her, she walks offstage and reemerges for the encore without makeup, wearing a plain black outfit and a beanie over the hair hidden beneath countless wigs throughout the show. It’s a quiet nod to the person behind all the spectacle, but still part of the performance. Like everything she’s done tonight, it’s executed with complete precision and heart.
