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“I know how to make the hard things look really easy,” Addison Rae tells the O2 Academy Brixton crowd, moving playfully across the stage in a glittering silver bikini and tall boots. She’s in the middle of performing ‘High Fashion’, her sultry track that’s more about longing for luxury brands than craving love. But when she hits that lyric, midway through the first of two packed shows at the south London venue, it feels just as much like she’s describing the way her career has unfolded so far.
Becoming a central pop act in 2025 isn’t simple, especially for someone trying to win instant respect with only a handful of tracks and completely reinvent themselves from influencer to credible rising star with genuine cultural weight. Yet Rae has pulled it off, a shift she only really kicked into motion a year ago with the release of ‘Diet Pepsi’, the lead single from her first album, ‘Addison’. Tonight’s show proves how far she’s come, from inviting two fans dressed in throwback versions of her past outfits to join her on stage for a cover of Charli XCX’s ‘Von Dutch’, to sly references sprinkled throughout her set, an Arca remix of ‘Obsessed’ surfacing for a moment, a Britney Spears-flavored twist on 2023’s ‘I Got It Bad’.
Rae has also mastered the trick of looking like a seasoned pop headliner with ease. Before starting her headline tour of the UK and Ireland in Dublin earlier this week (August 25), she’d only played live a small number of times, two intimate album launch parties at The Box in New York and London, an opening slot for Lana Del Rey at Wembley Stadium in July, and a showcase at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. Yet at Brixton she moves like someone who’s been doing this for years, the only slip showing when she breaks character to squeal happily at her fans. “Wow, you’re so loud!” she laughs at one point. “I feel so lucky to be here; it’s such a dream come true.”
Addison Rae. Credit: Samir Hussein
When she’s not bubbling over with gratitude for the crowd, Rae delivers an ecstatic hour of perfectly polished pop. Before she even steps out, wrought iron gates stamped with a bold A slide open across the stage, pulled apart by dancers in neon outfits straight out of Spring Breakers. Rae emerges high on a podium as ‘Fame Is A Gun’ kicks off, dressed in a navy swing dress. By the end of the song, her dancers pull away the outer layer, leaving her in a glowing, fluorescent look underneath – a visual metaphor for stepping fully into fame.
‘Summer Forever’ shimmers with dreamy brightness, ending in a steamy routine with dancer Patrick that leaves them sprawled on the floor, faces inches apart. “Oh my god, Patrick! I might even say that was to die for, but I’m not looking for anything serious right now,” Rae jokes afterward – a cheeky quip that brushes up against corny when you realize her next track is 2023’s ‘2 Die 4’. It’s one of the rare missteps of the night, along with the sometimes clashing visuals, Rae tries to merge. She blends gothic southern elements with glossy LA-style touches, nodding to both her Louisiana roots and California life, but the lack of a clear storyline keeps it from fully landing.
The audience doesn’t seem to care, though. They scream along to every chorus, especially when the singles drop. ‘Aquamarine’, ‘Headphones On’, and ‘Diet Pepsi’ all spark wild sing-alongs that feel more like celebrations for a veteran artist than a newcomer. For the finale, Rae stages one more theatrical moment. Sitting on a podium in the center, dressed in a corset and dramatic tulle skirt, she lets the lights fall to black before the music surges back with a key change, sparks pouring across the screen behind her. Once again, she makes something difficult appear completely effortless.
Addison Rae played:
‘Fame Is A Gun’
‘I Got It Bad’
‘New York’
‘Summer Forever’
‘2 Die 4’
‘Von Dutch’
‘In The Rain’
‘High Fashion’
‘Aquamarine’
‘Headphones On’
‘Money Is Everything’
‘Obsessed’
‘Times Like These’
‘Diet Pepsi’
LIVE REVIEWS
It’s unusual for Sault, the elusive group headed by Little Simz’s past collaborator InFlo, to take the stage. So when All Points East revealed that they would be leading the opening day of this year’s festival (August 15), the excitement spread immediately. Even though they hinted at a global tour in 2023, their only live appearances to date were at London’s Drumsheds, where they delivered a sold-out extravaganza. This night, then, promised an experience no one wanted to miss.
The line-up throughout the day was stacked with strong names like Kirk Franklin, Sasha Keable, Nao, Ms Dynamite, and others. Sadly, every one of these sets was squeezed into a messy three-hour stretch, creating painful overlaps all across the park. After 6 pm, only Main Stage East stayed active, leaving festival-goers with a single option: to watch the headline run of Sault, Cleo Sol, and Chronixx. The latter two, both tied to the mysterious group, each had their slots as well as time performing with the collective.
Nothing quite sets us up for Sault’s epic five-hour showing, which proves both overwhelming and tangled. Dancers and a choir appeared cloaked in burnt ochre robes, resembling travelers from a fictional desert world, surrounded by sand, dunes, and golden-lined rocks. The production had serious funding – a full orchestra with piano, strings, harp, and guitars filled the soundscape, and in the middle of the crowd sat a dusty pyramid that most people ignored. Whispers carried through the audience about the spectacle’s grandeur, with one nearby voice remarking, “Doesn’t InFlo still owe Little Simz £1million?”
The pyramid stage design during Sault’s All Points East 2025 set. Photo credit: Jennifer McCord
Whatever meaning this grand production was meant to communicate was hard to grasp. The leading figures, who looked like InFlo and Sol, seemed to be chasing something, yet it was never clear exactly what. Perhaps it was freedom, since the lead vocalist echoed the refrain of ‘Free’, with additional nods to self-discovery and healing, but the storyline stayed muddy and difficult to follow.
Energy picked up once Sol and Chronixx emerged early in the performance, both in beige suits and reflective shades, slipping into the first act. Alongside the cloaked ensemble, they played through a range of Sault songs that stretched across all twelve albums. Fans were treated to hidden treasures like the mesmerizing ‘S.O.T.H.’ and emotional ‘Pray For Me’, alongside more recognizable tracks such as ‘I Just Want to Dance’ and ‘Why Why Why Why Why’. For many in the crowd, though, the event played more like a quirky encounter than the immersive artistic showcase Sault seemed to be aiming for.
It took nearly two hours for the night to loosen up, and that turning point came courtesy of Chronixx. His uplifting reggae and radiant spirit shifted the whole space, people skanked along to ‘Smile’ and swayed to ‘Likes’, and suddenly the atmosphere felt celebratory again. Once he exited, Yasiin Bey (fka Mos Def) appeared out of nowhere in a strange yet brilliant surprise. Over chirping bird sounds and glitchy electronic noise, he reshaped ‘Umi Says’, spinning across the stage in a checkered drape, embodying the song’s spirit of liberation with almost comic exaggeration.
Chronixx performing at All Points East on Friday, August 15. Photo credit: The pyramid stage design during Sault’s All Points East 2025 set. Photo credit: Jennifer McCord
After four relentless hours of spectacle, Cleo Sol finally claimed the spotlight for her whole performance. The shift was instant, her gentle voice floated across Victoria Park, drawing hips to sway and couples to curl into each other, the entire air easing at once. She shone in glittering silver cocktail wear, moving gracefully with the poise of someone fully aware of how badly we needed this release. ‘Rose In The Dark’ carried an almost ironic weight as she sang “Hold on a little longer / It’ll be alright”, mirroring exactly what the crowd had been doing throughout the marathon. Closing with ‘Know That You Are Loved’, she stood atop the glowing pyramid while voices from the crowd echoed every lyric back to her, delivering the emotional peak of the evening.
She tried to squeeze in ‘Why Don’t You’ as an encore, but curfew struck, the lights snapped on, and the moment ended abruptly. The intention was clear, to unveil the breadth of Sault’s world through an unconventional showcase, yet the finale, like the beginning, left more questions than answers. For a group as rare on stage as Sault, a little less mystery and a little more music might have made their All Points East appearance truly measure up to the highs of Drumsheds.
Sault played:
‘Glory’
‘Free’
‘Let Me Go’
‘Over’
‘I Just Wanna Dance’
‘Warrior’
‘Faith’
‘Up All Night’
‘Son Shine’
‘Masterpiece’
‘Why Why Why Why Why’
‘Stop Dem’
‘Black Is’
‘Pray For Me’
‘S.O.T.H.’
‘T.H.’
‘W.A.I.’
‘Wildfires’
‘This Generation’
Chronixx played:
‘Big Bad Sound’
‘Here Comes Trouble’
‘Exile’
‘Survivor’
‘Market’
‘Captureland’
‘They Don’t Know’
‘Don’t Be Afraid’
‘Family First’
‘Spanish Town Rockin”
‘Skankin Sweet’
‘Majesty’
‘Sweet Argument’
‘Way You Make Me Feel’
‘Resilient’
‘Eternal Light’
‘Tenement Yard’
‘Saviour’
‘Love Is On A Mountain’
‘Smile Jamaica’
Cleo Sol played:
‘Love Yourself’
‘Rose In The Dark’
‘When I’m In Your Arms’
‘There Will Be No Crying’
‘Things Will Get Better’
‘Reason’
‘Don’t Let Me Fall + Outro’
‘Promises’
‘Sunshine’
‘Don’t Let It Go To Your Head’
‘Blue’ (Unreleased)
‘Know That You Are Loved’
‘Why Don’t You’
