Review: Lily Allen @ Koko

Lily Allen has been in a lot of trouble lately. First, she made some rather risqué comments regarding cocaine. Second, she recorded a cover of Womanizer, which spread through the blogosphere like wildfire.

It can be assumed that her record company liked the former, and disliked the latter. According to her Myspace, Lily got a strict telling-off for recording the Britney track. The cocaine though, had her on the front pages of newspapers and magazines, and lead to her discussion on numerous chat shows. With a sophomore album on the way, publicity is key.

Tonight is Lily’s first London gig in almost two years, and the audience feel like she has something to prove. Is she still relevant after the influx of similar artists? Is her new material, from It’s Not Me, It’s You, worth the wait? Most importantly though, does she still want to be a pop star? 

With her first album Alright Still, Lily paved the way for young, feisty females to conquer the charts and keep a chic, indie cool. Since her breakthrough hit Smile, we know more about her love life than our best friends; we know more about her family and dog than we have ever wanted to. But now she has returned, and she’s on fire.

She arrives on stage and giggles. It won’t be the first fit of laughter of the night, as she seems to do so after almost every song. Perhaps it’s nervousness - she is, after all, only 23 and facing a worldwide spotlight.

The audience can’t help but fall for her chuckling. We gain an immediate closeness with here, as if sharing a joke with our neighbour.

She loosens up after the third song, Little Things from Alright Still, as the front row of photographers leave and she takes her shoes off. Lily finally looks comfortable centre stage and launches into several new tracks.

Immediate standouts include the Take That sampling early-romance tale of Who’d Have Known, which could be the most beautiful song of 2009, the George Bush hating Fuck You and Not Fair, which Lily describes as “stupid country music”. A couple more familiar songs wouldn’t have been unwelcome, but with new tracks sounding instantly like old favourites, we didn’t really need them.

Now this being Lily Allen, celebrity fodder, a couple of familiar faces are in the vicinity. Producer Mark Ronson gets a dedication, Lady Gaga welcomes a mention halfway through, and Jaime Winstone dances with Lily’s actor brother, Alfie.

It’s a shame really. Her recent number one single, The Fear, is a (perfectly formed) song about celebrity culture. “Life’s about film stars and less about mothers, it’s all about fast cars and cussing each other”, she sings ironically. Shouting out greetings to Kate Moss, with no mention of her parents, seems somewhat contradictory.

The encore is a revelation though, and it certifies what a brilliant pop star we have on our hands. Tonight confirms her as a brilliant songwriter and endearing performer. She giggles again as she launches into her final song, Britney’s Womanizer.