Lily’s black-clad backing band snaps into action with Everyone’s At It and the girl herself makes a dramatic entrance as a larger-than-life silhouette before the curtain drops and strobe lights go mental.

She too is dressed in black, her diminutive presence allowing her vocals to take centre stage in what is a surprisingly intimate show given that ticket demand could have filled a much larger venue.

I Could Say sees the band lit in full multicolour splendour and is musically one of the set’s stronger tracks despite the bass overpowering throughout.

By track three Lily’s jaw dropping introduction is firmly in the rear view mirror and the set veers into the weird slow-motion Zorba terrain of Never Gonna Happen, heightened by the primary colour light show plodding across huge L – I – L -Y letters on the back screen.

Lily’s vocals and her band’s musicianship are spot on tonight – and I suspect they always are, but for this reviewer it’s the strength of her songs that span the gamut of great all the way down to cringeworthy.

Mid set highlights include Oh My God from Mark Ronson’s Versions album, Chinese, 22 and LDN segueing into an awesome Back To The Start.

More forgettable moments are the, ahem, politically charged Fuck You , a semi-acoustic He Wasn’t There and Him – which isn’t bad, just drab.

The dinky carousel cheese and lowbrow theme of Not Fair nearly does my head in, but it bothers the crowd none. It seems appreciation throughout the set increases with the crudeness of Lily’s lyrics.

Who’d Have Known is dedicated to “all the new couples who still like each other” and is the closest thing to a Zippo moment (no mention of Lily’s ‘prop’ cigarette) in the age of nonsmoking venues.

Lily fans certainly get bang for their buck tonight as she plays the hits from album number one and the entirety of number two over the course of the evening. No prizes for guessing the encore as we predictably wait for Smile – with a bangin’ drum n bass / dub breakdown and Lily on handheld Kaoss pad – and lead single The Fear from sophomore effort It’s Not Me, It’s You.

SET LIST

Everyone’s At It
I Could Say
Never Gonna Happen
Oh My God
Him
Who’d Have Known
LDN
Back To The Start
He Wasn’t There
Chinese
22
Not Fair
Fuck You
Smile
The Fear
Womanizer

Words by misscrystle for Fasterlouder.com.au

Photos by Kylie Keene for Fasterlouder.com.au