Charli XCX at Shepherd's Bush Empire, gig review: Wild and full of potential

She comes across as a kind of glamorous wild woman, stomping up and down the stage and swearing like a trooper

(Rex)

Charli XCX appears to be on the cusp of tipping over from cult favourite to household name.

Cautious with the London crowd who are vicious when it comes to live performances, she thanks them profusely when they cheer, gets them to stick their middle fingers up in the air, and grins at the approving yells when she asks if anyone is drinking underage.

In a zebra-print skirt and top she comes across as a kind of glamorous wild woman, stomping up and down the stage in towering high heels and swearing like a trooper.

Her attitude is a refreshing break from the many demure pop divas who have been politely dominating the charts, but this enthusiastic and seemingly inexhaustible energy displayed by the 22-year-old is not helped by her somewhat limp backing band 'Charli's Angels'.

While the drummer can just about keep up with XCX’s relentless energy, the guitarists struggle to mimic her 'rock and roll' behaviour: one awkwardly slides onto her knees at random moments and the other, at one excruciating moment, gets her guitar stuck over a pair of angel wings as she attempts to raise it above her head.

Girl power as a motif for the show continues with her guest singers, including a not-so-surprising appearance from Rita Ora (XCX tweeted about it before the show) for "Doing It".

Closing on "Boom Clap" – XCX’s first solo UK number one – pleases the crowd well enough, but it's a cover of Swedish punk band Snuffed by the Yakuza's "Allergic to Love" that is the most impressive song of the night.

Tossing her hair in a glossy black whirlwind she screeches out the lyrics with similar vocal inflections to both Siouxsie of Siouxsie and the Banshees and Yannis Philippakis of Foals.

Scandi pop-punk works well with XCX’s voice and is far truer to the form than her own music, with its occasional expletives and fuzzy guitar riffs.

While "Break The Rules" and "Hanging Around‘ too often appropriate the instrumentation of older rock and pop bands, XCX makes "Allergic To Love" her own, and hints at what she could do if she was really brave enough.

Sucker /

Breaking up / ft inflatable

I LOVE IT /

Famous /

Superlove /

Body of my own /

Caught in the middle /

need ur love ft holly

Black roses /

Stay away /

You /

Hanging around

A2L

London Queen /

Break the rules /

Gold coins /

Doing It / ft Rita Ora

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Grins /

Boom Clap /