Making the ninth stop on her huge Odd One Out Tour, Tuesday saw GIRLI stop off at Manchester’s Band on the Wall. CelebMix headed down.
If you know GIRLI for just one reason, it’s probably 2017’s ‘Hot Mess’, a middle-finger up to the music industry patriarchy and a rally to a younger generation to use their voices. Naturally, it’s that hit that rounds off the night, but for the hour beforehand it’s that trademark GIRLI attitude bursting out of the hit that fills the room.
‘Young’ kicks off the evening, met with a chorus of “no they never told us, how much it hurts to be young” from an intimate Manchester crowd making enough noise to fill an arena. As she launches into the tongue-in-cheek flick ‘Pink’, that effervescent debut record bursts into life.
Triumphant is the word that comes into mind as tracks like ‘Friday Night Big Screen’, a quirky nod to Hollywood and the closest the singer will ever come to a ballad, and ‘Stick Out’, a sassy embracing of her oddities, are delivered with utter confidence. Odd One Out is a record years in the making and a huge landmark in the GIRLI discography. Last night in Manchester, these are fans who have been around from day one – the reaction to 2016’s ‘Girl I Met On The Internet’ is a testament to that. There’s a real sense that this tour sees GIRLI move from making noise on the outskirts to becoming a fully-fledged pop star doing everything her own way.
‘Up & Down’ is one of the night’s best moments, fans throwing themselves around during its pounding chorus. Meanwhile, ‘Deal With It’ packs a huge punch as pop meets punk meets rock.
It may only be an hour long, some older favourite not quite making the cut, but that doesn’t matter to fans who are here to celebrate the latest era. Plus, if you’ve ever been to a GIRLI show, you know 60-minutes of her ferocious pop is enough cardio for a year.
By 10pm, fans are spilling back out onto the Manchester streets, soaked and smiling. The explosion of youth they just been able to let out is a credit to GIRLI and everything she stands for. Some artists have a place in fans’ hearts like none other. GIRLI is one of them.
Have you caught GIRLI on the Odd One Out tour? Let us know @CelebMix on Twitter.