REVIEW: Charli xcx @ TD Garden 9/24

Photo Credit: Henry Redcliffe

Review by James Klein

After 2024’s “Brat Summer” and “Sweat” Tour, expectations were high for Charli xcx’s next era. Returning to TD Garden, she announced, “The last time I was here, I was having a mental breakdown, but today I feel really, really good.” That confidence shone throughout her 28-song set, balancing the jagged sound of “Music, Fashion, Film,” the club classics of “Brat” and hits from her expansive catalog.

Opening for Charli was underscores, whose “U” album has seen popular and critical success since its March 2026 release. Charli’s choice of underscores as an opener highlighted their shared roots in underground hyperpop and alternative electronic music alongside recent mainstream success. Recently, underscores has gained well-deserved recognition, and her talent was evident throughout the opening set.

Underscores took the stage to “Unlimited Love,” joined by flashy pixelated graphics on the screen behind her. Performing most of “U,” underscores kept the arena engaged with energetic choreography as fans sang and clapped along. Closing with “Music” was climactic, as underscores jumped and twirled down the thrust stage while the crowd remained mesmerized through every beat drop. Underscores thanked Charli for “an opportunity of a lifetime” before receiving a standing ovation.

As the lights went down, a three-level stage topped by a smoking speaker box appeared. Distorted guitars and synths accompanied the repeated phrase “Oblivion is freedom,” from David Cronenberg’s spoken-word addition to “No One Lasts Forever.”

Charli emerged in a burst of pyrotechnics for “Rock Music,” backed by a live rock band for most of her “Music, Fashion, Film” album cuts. She performed “Yeah,” “Wink Wink,” “Persona” and “Apple,” which notably omitted the iconic “Brat”-era “Apple” dance. Charli performed at a mic stand as flashing lights and guitar riffs accompanied her.

Charli leaned into the “Fashion” portion with “Card Declined,” joined by more than a dozen dancers in matching heels, jeans, and white T-shirts who stripped to their bras by the song’s end. She then crawled to the end of the thrust stage for a head-banging performance of “I’m Afraid” in front of a live fire. The HD cameras artfully captured her raw emotion while reinforcing the album’s film noir aesthetic. The song ended with a beam of light shooting from the bottom of the pyramid stage like a camera flash, another nod to Charli’s recent cinematic influence.

The dancers returned for performances of “Track 10,” “Girl, so confusing featuring Lorde” and “pink diamond.” Their sensual choreography was synchronized, particularly during the twerking in “pink diamond,” a song that self-assuredly goes “real hard.”

Leaning back into the “Film” aspect of the show, Charli performed two original songs from this year’s “Wuthering Heights” adaptation, delivering performances so cinematic that they could have been pre-recorded and edited. As “House” hit its peak, fire shot from behind her and fireworks exploded to the beat, creating a pyrotechnic spectacle I had no idea was possible.

“Dying for You” featured some more club-like moves as the song transitioned into “Club classics” and the “Brat” rave began. The pit became a dance floor as “Club classics” seamlessly transitioned into “365,” “360,” “Sympathy is a knife” and “Von dutch,” with each song perfectly balancing choreography and freestyle dancing. Charli leaned into the “Brat” era, with strobe lights, four-on-the-floor beats, and “jump!” callouts. “Von dutch” was staged like its music video, with intricate camera movements following the dancers as they strutted down the stage.

For her surprise deep cut, Charli chose “Silver Cross,” its first performance since 2019. Drenched in blue and pink light, she sang the 2019 track before rejoining her dancers for “Guess featuring Billie Eilish,” where cannons shot underwear into the crowd at the beat drop.

Her band rose from the stage for the loud, rock-heavy “If You Take Away the Music Then What Has She Got?” and “2007,” complete with dancers drinking and smoking behind Charli. The dancers left as the show transitioned to “Camera,” where Charli performed in a torn-up shirt directly to a close-up camera, accentuating the moment with a smirk.

Next came two fan favorites, “party 4 u” and “Vroom Vroom,” each a defining track in its own right. Charli closed the set with more from “Music, Fashion, Film,” with “Playboy Bunny,” “Magic Metal Montana,” “SS26” and “No One Lasts Forever,” all of which slowly descended into the album’s nihilism and radical impermanence. 

On “SS26,” Charli sings, “Nothing’s gonna save us, not music, fashion, or film,” framing the album’s elements of artistic expression as attempts to fill an existential void. “No One Lasts Forever” ended with the cast frozen and pensive as Cronenberg’s monologue repeated, “They are dead, they are gone, no one lasts forever.” The show was bookended by more repetition of “Oblivion is freedom” before the lights went back up on TD Garden. 

Charli gave fans across her catalog something to latch onto, moving between older favorites, “Brat” classics, and the darker sound of “Music, Fashion, Film.” By leaning into the new era, she contrasted the “Sweat” Tour’s party culture with a more introspective show without sacrificing the fun, moving effortlessly between pop, rock and electronic music.