After a three-hour flight, an 8 a.m. trip to the venue, standing in line for three to four hours, and issues with security, I attended — and survived — Charli xcx and Troye Sivan’s Sweat Tour on Oct. 13 in Phoenix, Ariz. Whether it was the 102-degree weather that day or the performance’s impact on my life trajectory, I definitely left sweating.
The night began with a performance from Shygirl. This special guest has been stringing along with the pop duo headliners for the tour as the opener, as well as gracing audiences with her presence during Charli’s set with the performance of “365 featuring shygirl,” a remix from the recent “Brat” remix album. If you have never heard from Shygirl, I recommend listening to the British singer and DJ’s recent release, “Club Shy (extended),” a project full of club anthems, or “Nymph,” her oldest project — one of which’s songs, “Nike,” I played during my recent DJ set for the Pause’s Boiler Room event.
From here, Troye Sivan stole the show, opening his and Charli’s conjoined set with a couple of songs from his one-year-old album, “Something To Give Each Other.” Coincidentally, this show landed on the one-year anniversary of its release. Charli, later in the night, congratulated Sivan. “Happy… one year old birthday to your album… seamless,” she said. After performing three songs, Sivan ran back into the cage component of the stage and lights dimmed.
Soon after, a “brat green” curtain fell, showing, in the iconic low-res font, the word “brat” inscribed on all four sides of the stage. Lights flashed, noise rose, and the crowd cheered — and then the curtain fell. From a smoke that surrounded the stage and pit, where I was, Charli xcx appeared. I stood three rows from her but the noise of my yells probably made contact. From here, she performed the hit songs “365,” “360,” and “Von dutch,” and the crowd was hype for every one. In fact, I would say the crowd at the Sweat tour had the best concert etiquette and energy that I have seen since I first started concert-going in 2017 — minus maybe the Christian rock concert I attended in my developmental years circa 2010.
Throughout the rest of the night, the two headliners went back and forth between their sets, often showing up for sections of each other’s set and ultimately performing some of the multiple songs they have together such as “1999” and “Talk talk featuring troye sivan,” which was the last performance of the night. And then it ended before I knew it.
In retrospect, the Sweat tour was almost a religious experience — and according to the “Beauty, Arts, and Religion” class I took last semester, it was a religious experience. I felt euphoric “bumpin’ that” with the rest of the sold out venue that night — even if I smelled the occasional poppers and was clouded by the joint being smoked next to me. It was an experience I wouldn’t give up, and was $400 dollars well spent.
