Charli xcx’s “Music, Fashion, Film Tour” Brings a Reality-Swirling Spectacle to Brooklyn: Review + Setlist

Charli xcx’s “Music, Fashion, Film Tour” is pretty literal. At her Monday, September 14th show at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center — just the second stop on the trek — all three elements of that title were on display. There’s the music: a whopping 29 songs, including all 11 from her great new album Music, Fashion, Film, along with a pair of unreleased B-sides. There’s fashion: multiple costume changes (including a leather minidress that reads, “I’VE HAD SEX WITH CHARLI XCX”), flashy runway sequences, and a confetti cannon during “Guess” that launch a barrage of Charli xcx-branded panties in the air. And then there’s film: Charli is performing for us while very explicitly performing for the camera, dialing up the drama and imbuing the show with cinematic movement. These three mediums are reflected so thoroughly within Charli’s new tour that their presentation is almost incongruous with the themes on her album, which have much more to do with the artistic process than the completed product. Much of Charli’s recent work has been self-reflective and, to a degree, raw; the “Music, Fashion, Film Tour” leaves behind Charli’s usual impulsiveness in favor of a more refined spectacle. It’s a delib...