Twenty twenty-four, the internet declared very quickly after the touch-paper June release of Charli xcx’s brat, was the year of brat summer – drink spilling, cig smoking, and chaos merchantry in wraparound sunglasses, with a little bit of time for reflection on life and love on the night bus between parties.
The album and all it symbolises became a total cultural phenomenon, resonating with restless post-Covid audiences in a way that few, including Charli xcx, could have predicted. A year later, its behemothic impact can still be felt, proven as 35,000 people pack into east London’s Victoria Park for xcx’s PartyGirl edition of Lido Festival, with a hand-picked lineup including AG Cook, Magdalena Bay, The Dare, 070 Shake and Bladee.
In spirit, the day feels a lot like a victory lap for Charli xcx. It’s a thrill to see this performer and the community of artists around her, who reflect the diversity of her influences, hit the heights they have long deserved. Standouts include Cook’s typically bouncy, tone-setting afternoon main stage set, plus a blissed-out slot by The Japanese House, which feels like the Platonic ideal of sunny evening festival listening, and a veritable rager thrown by producer Kelly Lee Owens on the second stage, as she expertly guides partiers through tracks mostly from her 2024 album Dreamstate.
LA native The Dare, whose performance is full of his characteristic LCD Soundsystem worship (plus a cameo from PinkPantheress for her song “Stateside”) pulls one of the most up-for-it crowds of the festival – though his set is evidence of Lido’s ill-preparedness for a proper sell out. The tent is closed soon after he begins, with hundreds lining up at a barrier outside. Elsewhere, as the day progresses, food, bar and toilet queues become extremely long, and sound quality at the main stage is very uneven, serving as a reminder that most events at Victoria Park (including All Points East day festivals in recent years) rarely reach full capacity, and that organisers need to make different considerations when they do.
Such a big audience, however, should be expected for the largesse that Charli xcx and brat now represent, and when the time finally comes for the headline set, nobody is even slightly bothered about the wait time for the loo or some chips (it is not very brat, after all, to care about logistics). Beginning with the one-two punch of Shygirl’s breakneck “365” remix, into the familiar synth intro of “360”, Charli careers through a crowd-pleasing set featuring Amelia Dimoldenberg on the big screen performing the viral “apple” dance, a Bladee appearance for “rewind” and a goosepimple-inducing “everything is romantic” under a darkening sky.
The most special, idiosyncratic moments of the performance, however, come courtesy of the tracks from the xcx catalogue outside of the brat universe. Admittedly, Charli’s enthusiasm for classic songs like the Sophie-produced “Vroom Vroom”, with its battering ram production, does feel a little stronger, which is perhaps understandable considering that the brat train has been going non-stop for a full year. “party 4 u” – from her pandemic album how i’m feeling now – and “Track 10” are sprawling, throbbing epics, backed up with a stark, effective light show, while the Barbie soundtrack contribution “Speed Drive” gets an extension, morphing into a candy-coloured, bassy remix by Charli’s frequent collaborator Easyfun, that turns Victoria Park, momentarily, into a gigantic fairground ride.
At the end of the set – following a triumphant rendition of “I Love It” which, naturally, involves a waterfall – messages flash up on the big screen declaring that brat summer “wasn’t just a summer thing. It’s a forever thing.” And while you have to hope that an artist like Charli xcx, whose work previously has been so varied, expansive, and agenda-setting, will soon move on to something new, you can’t really blame her for wanting to hold onto the moment she created. Besides, I think the 35,000 people “bumpin’ that” with their mates in Victoria Park, as they recite every single lyric back, would probably agree that it’s a forever thing, too.
