Brat summer has come to a heartbreaking conclusion, but the SWEATiest autumn ever has only just begun.
On September 23, 2024, Charli XCX and Troye Sivan blessed Madison Square Garden with their co-headlined SWEAT Tour. For both artists, this is their only US tour (at least for now) for their wildly popular albums, Brat and Something to Give Each Other, respectively. This North American tour started in Detroit on September 14 and will end in Seattle on October 23.
Here’s a recap of their NYC show, from the perspective of a girl who will be making this show her new personality for the foreseeable future.
Before the show
I couldn’t risk leaving the show without a shirt, so my first stop was the merch booth. If you’ve been following this tour online, you might know that people generally aren’t happy with the merch options, both due to their dullness, price, and the zip-up hoodie saying “Amica” instead of America. While I don’t disagree, there was no way I was leaving without that black Sweat tour tee
Before anyone came out, I had plenty of time to ogle the incredible stage design. This is another thing you’ve probably heard about by following tour news online is the innovative stage, most notably, the transparent catwalk. This feature allows for floor-seat havers (I wish) to be eye-to-eye with Charli and Troye as they go between being onstage and backstage. The main stage has scaffolding at the back of it. The catwalk attaches the main stage to the front-most part of the surface, a square stage with the word “SWEAT” on it, which, after Troye’s first three songs, is covered with a green curtain reading “brat,” which is where Charli makes her entrances. This part of the stage also elevates, bringing the duo higher up for “1999.” There are two screens, one on each side of the stage. The horizontal screen shows a wider view of what’s going on, while the vertical screen gives the audience a close-up of the artist. Both screens have platforms and railings, giving the performers (but mostly Charli) another area to move to.
The show
Shygirl started the night off with a 12-song set, starting with “thicc” and ending with the aptly named “encore.” After about an hour, Troye came out, starting with “Got Me Started,” “What’s The Time Where You Are?” and “My My My!,” which comes from his 2016 album Bloom. Charli started her set by bringing Shygirl back out to perform the “365” remix, followed by “360” and “Von dutch.” Troye tapped in next, along with a bed on the square section of the stage for “In My Room.” “Dance to This” followed, with Ariana Grande’s portion of the song being performed by an animation of the singers dancing together. His last song for this round was “Rager teenager!” which is a somber song, making the transition to “Club classics” appear to be jarring. However, Troye took the end of “Rager teenager!” and kicked it up a notch, almost to indicate his growth since that song or possibly to tell the audience that he has finally made peace with his younger self.
“Club classics” moves into “Unlock It.” Charli brings back the heavy emotions of “Rager teenager!” with “Sympathy is a knife,” but quickly shifts the arena back to the club feel it had a few songs ago with “Guess featuring Billie Eilish.” Troye brings out another classic, “Bloom.” This is where the MSG show deviated from the setlist of previous shows.
On the platform attached to the horizontal screen, a blonde girl in a white bra and white tutu slowly walks out, soon revealing herself as Addison Rae. Troye and Charli joined Addison on the platform to sing Addison’s song “Diet Pepsi,” a song Troye has been outspoken about loving. With Addison already there, she and Charli take to the main stage to perform “Von dutch a.g. cook remix featuring addison rae.” The surprises didn’t end (or even peak) with Addison’s appearance, with Lorde being raised from under the stage to perform “Girl, so confusing” with Charli. The crowd went so wild that in most of the videos of her emergence, it’s impossible to hear the music over the cheers.
After the shockwaves of the special guests, a video of Troye in drag plays, setting the scene for and leading up to his performance of “One of Your Girls.” Charli takes over again with “Everything is romantic,” “Speed Drive” and “Apple.” Charli asked the crowd, “Are you ready to get silly?” which introduced Troye’s next songs, “Silly,” “You” and “STUD.” With the next switch came “365” and “Vroom Vroom,” followed by the two coming together to perform “1999” together. As the elevated stage came down, Charli and Troye thanked the crowd and their families, but the crowd was sat.
And rightfully so, since only a minute later Charli reemerged for her last solo songs, “Track 10” and “I Love It.” Troye’s last songs were “Honey” and Rush” and the two officially finished the night with their recently released collab, which was a remix of Charli’s “Talk talk” with Troye as a feature.
The post-concert depression is real with this one, and being at this show is going to be my new personality for the foreseeable future. The way SWEAT was organized was incredibly smart, making for a co-headlined show that didn’t have either artist overshadowing the other. The outfits, as they are for all shows, were iconic (special shout out to Troye’s last outfit of the night). The camera work and lighting were so on point, honestly, I can’t find anything to critique about this show.
If you haven’t caught a show yet, there’s still time! Check out the remaining tour dates here, I promise, it’s absolutely a show worth seeing, 11/10 no question.