Lily Allen’s West End Girl show has been in the headlines for a number of reasons, many of which revolve around the fact that the show is literally just that: a concert which plays all the songs on her album, nothing more and nothing less. Of course, this is an album that garnered a huge amount of attention with her breakup from David Harbour making news all around the world so to play the album in story form made sense but with the show coming in at just about an hour it was always going to be something that polarised the audience.

With Allen having cancelled her New Zealand show due to illness, expectations were high for her Sydney shows, both of which were completely sold out at the TikTok Entertainment Centre. To allay concerns about the fact that Allen was not performing any of her earlier hits, she brought out the Dallas Minor Sextet to play her biggest hits as orchestral versions with lyrics on the screen for the audience to sing along to. It wasn’t quite the real thing but the audience still had a good time nonetheless.

Allen has now infamously marketed this show as more of a theatre show than a concert with no interaction with the audience until the very end of the set as she works through the album chronologically. In doing this, Allen explores something that has actually really been lost in modern music in the age of streaming: the album as a concept. So often now, albums are produced now for hooks and TikTok bites and the art of crafting an album and the concept of the album as a whole have been somewhat pushed to a secondary consideration. It is wonderful that Allen is bringing that back allowing the audience to experience an album as a complete work rather than a collection of individual songs and it is a testament to her artistry. In this case, the chronological performance also allows the audience to follow the story of her divorce as it unfolds, with the staging and costuming helping to bring the songs to life.

As Allen came out onto the stage, the neon West End Girl sign flashed above the TikTok Ent Cent, creating the vibe of a grungy theatre show. Allen first emerged from velvet green curtains on stage to perform the titular track, with the crowd cheering and chanting as she picked up the phone to have a conversation with her ex with plenty of support from everyone in the crowd.

Allen used a handheld microphone throughout the set, which some could view as obscuring the theatrical experience but many modern-day musicals now use handheld mics rather than headset mics, especially those in a pop concert style like Six (currently playing at the Theatre Royal) so the use of a handheld mic did not break the theatrical spell at all.

Allen’s album is front-loaded, with some of the first tracks on the album being the best, including the powerfully reflective “Ruminating” and the more demure “Sleepwalking”. Everything was perfectly choreographed, from Allen’s defeated slump into a chaise lounge during “Sleepwalking” to her perfectly choreographed water break in the middle of the set just after she sang “Madeline”, which was clearly a crowd favourite. There were some undeniably camp moments as the set progressed, with parents in the mosh pit frequently trying to avert their children’s eyes as Allen rifled through sex toys during “Pussy Palace” but this allowed her audience to laugh and identify with her amidst some fairly serious material and made the pacing feel quite considered.

“Pussy Palace” was followed by arguably the highlight of the night with “4chan Stan” as Allen dressed herself in receipts showing what her ex-partner had spent on other women, really bringing the theatrical element of the song into play. The song is also incredible aside from the costuming and is probably the best on the album with a clear ’80s tinge and a wonderful hook to bring the audience in and it resonated perfectly with the audience, reverberating through the venue. The second part of the album was a little bit slower but still enjoyable, with the show continuing to explore the different emotions that underpin the story as Allen closed out the night with a confetti shower before ending on “Fruityloop”.

It was only at this point that Allen finally addressed the audience thanking them for their attendance to huge cheers as she mouthed, “My voice is so sore”, reflecting the fact that she perhaps hadn’t quite recovered from what had ailed her in New Zealand. But despite any illness, make no mistake that this was a flawless show. The set was perfectly curated, with everything feeling wonderfully choreographed, and the costuming was brilliant. The only thing that stopped this from really feeling like a theatre show was the lack of a live band, which was particularly odd given that she had a sextet as her opener. While the backing tracks allowed the production to follow the album closely, they also meant that the musical performance lacked some of the spontaneity that a live band could have brought to the show. Given how opulent her sets were, it was unlikely to have been a cost issue but in any other setting, playing to backing tracks would feel quite cheap. At a time when actual musical theatre orchestras are being phased out in favour of AI, it is a small bugbear that if Allen is to market this show as a theatrical-style production she really should be using a live orchestra.

Overall, this is an extraordinary show which really demonstrates how incredible an album can be when it is executed as a concept. This was the perfect balance of theatricality and substance with Allen really taking the crowd on a journey and the costuming and choreography made for a memorable experience. Would this journey have been disrupted by a short 20-minute medley of her hits after the end of the performance piece? I don’t think so but the jury might be out on that. Either way, the audience had an absolutely fabulous time and this was definitely one of the most clever shows that I’ve seen on stage this year.

Rating: ★★★★★

Lily Allen – TikTok Entertainment Centre – 26 October 2026

All photo credits: Emma Louise Smith