A
burst of light and blaring synthesizers were exposed to view as a single white
sheet fell from stage at April 18th's sold out Lily Allen concert. The full
crowd at the Theater of Living Arts in Philadelphia started to scream as Allen
emerged from the bright, white light singing the lyrics of “Everyone’s At It.”
Wearing a strapless
one-piece outfit and lens-less, hot pink sunglasses courtesy of opening band,
Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Allen commented on how uncomfortable her outfit
was. The British singer commended Philadelphians on their cleverness during her
ritual day-of-the show ticket giveaway. Allen was going to post clues on Twitter
for her scavenger hunt, but before she even posted the clues, fans were already
waiting at the planned location,
Love
Park, for the free tickets.
The night was full of
antics and Allen’s witty remarks. Halfway through the show, Allen even held a
cheesesteak eating contest, which involved two audience members Josh and Mike
competing to be the first one to finish eating an infamous
Philadelphia cheesesteak. The winner
won, of course, a free cheesesteak, which led into Allen’s song “Not Fair.”
Surprisingly, the
audience contained a lot of middle aged men (and their cameras). Allen managed
to spot three children in the audience. Maybe her explicit lyrics kept parents
from letting their children out on that Saturday night. During her song “F***
You”, Allen encouraged the crowd to throw up their middle fingers as she did the
same with a beer and lit cigarette in hand.
After Allen left the
stage with an “I hope you’ve enjoyed the show so far,” she returned in a new
outfit and sang her hit “Smile” from her debut album Alright, Still. Five
cigarettes, two beers, and a stomach flashing later, Allen ended the show with
Britney Spears’ “Womanizer.” This might be seen as a risk, ending your concert
with another artist’s song. But whether Lily Allen ends with her song, or any
one else’s song, her performance is sure to leave an impression. How many other
pop stars can you name who flip off their 10-year-old fans without any
complaints from the parents?