Charli XCX – The Sebright Arms, London 22/08/12

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Photograph by Siamak Amini

In years to come, cultural musicologists will determine why at this point in 2012 Charli XCX was garnering significantly more interest in the US than on her home turf. By such future date, of course, this is all going to be irrelevant anyway because the Hertfordshire popstrel’s music will rightfully have taken over the UK as well as the rest of the world. But watching Charlotte Aitchison delivering a knockout set to a packed-within-an-inch-of-its-life Sebright Arms audience on Wednesday night, one could not help but ponder the whys and accompanying wherefores of her, at least for now, being exclusively the darling of the blogging world.

Charli’s two bandmates’ arrival on stage is heralded by Enya’s ‘Orinoco Flow’. If that doesn’t immediately help you gauge the gig’s placing on the Amaze-o-meter, then heaven only knows what will. Just as younger audience members are about to Shazam the 1988 hit on their phones, XCX explodes onto the stage with the raucous set-opener, ‘Feel My Pain’, a future single if we have any say on the matter. She follows with the hook laden ‘Lock You Up’, which made a partial appearance on her Heartbreaks and Earthquakes mixtape a couple of months ago. Sporting what is probably one of the most instant choruses in the XCX repertoire, her voice on this number is as powerful as it is nonchalant. Effortless vocal delivery is definitely a natural feat for the 20-year-old.

Debut single ‘Stay Away’ has the audience singing along enthusiastically and a cover version of Echo and the Bunnymen’s ‘The Killing Moon’ manages to somehow brilliantly reinvent the Ian McCulloch & Co classic.

At her recent Troubadour gig in L.A., XCX was joined on stage by Sky Ferreira for a rendition of ‘Grins‘, another big number from her recent mixtape and although Ferreira-less, The Sebright Arms outing for this track is no less of a banger. Not even the melting temperature in this basement venue could tether the impressive amount of energy which XCX exudes, jumping and dancing on the stage and exchanging smiles with fans who had already managed to memorise the lyrics.

Speaking of lyrics, best line of the night belongs to ‘Nuclear Seasons‘, a pop masterpiece whose opener is truly a gem: “When you go please don’t leave your love in the sun; my heart would melt away”, she sings. The chorus packs a hefty punch and, in an ideal world, this – her second single from last year – would get a re-release during her debut album campaign, which we’re told tentatively to expect in October.

Other highlights includes ‘End Of the World’ and current single, ‘You’re The One, which – despite being pencilled for release in the UK at the end of last month – remains conspicuously unavailable here.

As a homeland precursor to a support slot on Coldplay’s European tour, this show demonstrated Charli XCX’s unfaltering stage presence and, importantly, her possession of the requisite musical goods to help make her the mega popstar which she is clearly destined to be, and not just across the Atlantic.

By Doron Davidson-Vidavski.