Venue: Charli XCX @Co-Op Live, Manchester

It's good access, baby

Co-Op Live
Co-op Live, 1 Sports City Way, Etihad Campus, Manchester
cooplive.com

Two days after the release of the album of the summer, and possibly year, Charli XCX announced a small selection of UK arena shows. This was long before Charli announced her Irish dates, so the panic of missing out on a peak Brat moment was enough for me and a few pals to buy tickets for her Manchester date.

As we waited for that November date, Brat only grew bigger, releasing an extended LP and the remix album, Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat. Charli endorsed Kamala Harris, saw Kamala’s campaign embrace its inner brat, and was briefly cancelled for said endorsement. But Charli bounced back as footage from the Sweat Tour, her joint-American tour with Troye Sivan, trickled out, proving that Brat is more than just a moment. It’s a movement.

Seeing her perform last week in Manchester’s new venue, the incredible Co-Op Live, I can confirm that this movement is very real and showing no signs of slowing down. With support from ShyGirl, who appears on the 365 Remix and is generally excellent, the arena was full of people wearing the emblems of Brat summer; lime green tees, lime green blazers, mesh tops, assless chaps, leather harnesses, and sunglasses indoors.

So many people are resetting their identity, or in the case of the many, many, many Gen Zers (who looked us Millennials up and down wondering “what are these oldies doing here?”) establishing their identity, via Brat. This is a new kind of coming-of-age story and it’s fascinating to watch people commit themselves to the bit.