Charli XCX
Other Stage, Saturday June 28, 10.30pm
As they do every year, 2025 Glastonbury goers have made laudable efforts with their outfits. This year’s picks include the red-clad Disco Patrol, goths on stilts, and peculiar t-shirts saved for the occasion (we saw old tees depicting Alien Sex Fiend, Ivor Biggun and even Morrissey).
But today there are ubiquitous shades of lime green, the no frills livery of Charli XCX’s Brat album. The culmination of her 14-year career as a recording artist so far, it draws on lurid ’90s rave and a hardnosed, empowered persona with pugnacious abandon. A global hit last year, it would seem that if anyone knows how to put on a Saturday night show for what is a head-spinningly huge crowd, it will be her.
The choice of The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony as her intro music is surprising, but from the off she takes care of business with ruthless efficiency in a set which draws heavily on Brat. Her stage presentation has the minimalism (and suggestion of lip sync’ing) of an old school rave PA, pumping attention-deficit hyper-dance pop with no patience for your opinions.
As the giant beats and seizure-inducing lights take over, the bratness is strong: she says the f word a lot and calls us bitches, struts and writhes with purpose, leads clap-alongs and pays sincere homage to her fans like they’re best pals on the bus to college. In response, the monstrous crowd lose it every five seconds.
The big screens show a kinetic, super-edited video feed, and the no-encore show is over before you realise there weren’t any guest stars (she brought Billie Eilish and Addison Rae onstage for Coachella, but so it goes). Charli XCX knows what spannered people in fields need, and the faithful are served. Incidentally, we’re told via a valedictory screen message that Brat Summer hasn’t actually ended but goes on, a hyperreal coordinate in its creator’s mind. Oh my.
Charlie XCX at Glastonbury 2025 Setlist:
365 (shygirl remix)
360
Von Dutch
I Might Say Something Stupid (The 1975 & Jon Hopkins remix)
Club Classics
Unlock It
Apple
Girl, So Confusing (featuring Lorde remix)
Everything Is Romantic
Speed Drive
Sympathy Is A Knife
Guess (featuring Billie Eilish remix)
365
Party 4 U (extended intro)
Vroom Vroom
Track 10
I Love It
Follow all of MOJO’s Glastonbury 2025’s coverage HERE!
Photo: Joseph Okpako/WireImage