Troye Sivan and Charli XCX brought their SWEAT tour to Phoenix at the Footprint Center earlier this month, playing for a sold-out arena of nearly 13,000 people.
Shygirl opened the show, playing songs such as “thicc” and “SIREN,” energizing the crowd for the show to come. While her set did not have a large production value, she was able to put on an impressive show with just her and two backup dancers.
Shygirl is a DJ and hyperpop singer based in London who started performing music in 2016 with her first single, “Want More.” She has achieved success with her 2022 album “Nymph,” which hit number one for UK Dance Albums and number seven in US Top Dance/Electronic Albums, according to Billboard.
Shygirl ended her set with her songs “FREAK” and “f@k€.” She hyped up the crowd for the show that would come soon, and the audience only had to wait thirty minutes for the main acts, Troye Sivan and Charli XCX, to begin their performances.
Troye Sivan is an Australian YouTuber-turned-musician, who started making music back in 2012 with his EP “The June Haverly EP.” He made his first EP with a record label in 2014 with “TRXYE,” which included the lead single “Happy Little Pill.”
Charli XCX is a British singer-songwriter, who started making music by going to illegal raves in England in 2008. Charli would later go on to make hit songs like “Boom Clap,” “Unlock it (Lock it) feat. Kim Petras and Jay Park” and “Vroom Vroom.”
Sivan and Charli alternated their performances throughout the concert, switching off every two to three songs. Sivan opened the show with his songs “Got Me Started,” “What’s the Time Where You Are” off his 2023 album “Something to Give Each Other” and “My My My!” off his 2018 album “Bloom.”
After Sivan’s performance, Charli brought “brat” to Phoenix with the “brat curtain” and her performance of songs like “Von Dutch” and “360.” Later, she brought out Shygirl for her remix on “365.”
With each change in the set, the other performer would leave and put on a new outfit. During Charli’s set, Sivan changed his outfit to get ready for the theme of his next set, which took place on a bed at the end of the stage.
Sivan and his backup dancers had everyone screaming throughout the set, especially during his songs “One of Your Girls” and “In My Room.” Later on, he slowed it down with songs such as “Dance to This” on his album Bloom and “Rager teenager!” from his 2020 EP “In A Dream.”
Charli would go on to perform some of her bigger hits, with songs like “Apple,” “Boys” and “Speed Drive” from the “Barbie” movie. She also performed other remixes from her album “Brat and it's completely different but also still brat,” including “Guess featuring Billie Eilish” and “Girl, so confusing featuring Lorde.”
The show “ended” with Charli’s song “1999 (ft. Troye Sivan),” in which the crowd sang along to the lyrics about the desire to be young again, and live “back in 1999.” They left the stage, only to come back with an encore, playing hit songs such as Charli’s breakthrough collab with Icona Pop “I Love It” and Sivan’s “Honey” and “Rush.” They ended the show with “Talk talk featuring troye sivan” off of the brat remix album.
With over 40 songs performed throughout the show (and over 500 calories burned according to my Apple watch), the SWEAT tour did its job. It made everyone sweat.