Charli XCX and Troye Sivan heat things up during the Columbus stop of the “Sweat” tour

Charlie XCX and Troy Sivan perform during their “Sweat” tour at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Friday. Photo credit: Nick DeSantis | Assistant. Arts & Living Editor

There are many concerts that can move people emotionally, but not many can transform an arena into a full-blown club rave party.

The voice behind June 2024’s electronic-pop album “Brat,” Charli XCX, and Australian singer-songwriter Troye Sivan brought their co-headlining tour “Sweat” to Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Friday night.

The tour promised fans a double celebration of both artists’ recent successful studio release – Sivan’s 2023 album “Something to Give Each Other” and Charli XCX’s record “Brat.” Needless to say, the duo more than delivered.

The party started before the pair even took the stage. Starting at 7:30pm, show opener, electronic singer and rapper Shygirl, entertained the crowd with a setlist that combined up-tempo pop tunes with UK grime and electronic dance music.

Despite her simple stage setup – consisting of herself, a single DJ and a few background dancers – Shygirl prepared the crowd for the main performances by getting them in the mood with hard-hitting bass and psychedelic visuals.

At 8:30 p.m.—almost half an hour after Shygirl left the stage—the lights in the arena began to flash and two giant hanging signs lit up in a bright color, revealing the word “Sweat.”

A slowed-down version of “Club Classics” – the second track from “Brat” – blared from the arena’s speakers. “When I go to the club, I want to hear these Club Classics,” came screams and applause from the crowd as Sivan and Charli XCX’s names each appeared on the hanging LED signs.

Sivan opened the show by performing “Got Me Started” – a single from his 2023 album – and brought with it one of the highlights of the show – the choreography. The background dancers performed extremely intricate choreography while Sivan sang smooth, poppy vocals.

After a few songs, Sivan left the stage as a giant lime green curtain fell from a light fixture with one word on the front: “Brat.” After a minute of intense strobe lighting, the curtain fell and Charli XCX appeared wearing a bridal veil and addressed the crowd with the question, “Columbus, will you marry me?”

Charli XCX immediately launched into a remix of her latest song, “Brat,” titled “365,” with a little help from tour opener Shygirl. The pair danced and rapped throughout the remix as club-like lighting beamed down on the crowd.

Charli XCX played a few more songs from her current album – including the singles “360” and “Von Dutch” – before Sivan returned to the stage.

Before the show began, one of the most intriguing aspects of a double bill seemed to be how Charli XCX and Sivan would share the stage. The format – which proved to be quite effective – allowed each artist to perform three to four hits before the other took the stage again.

The result was an extremely fast-paced, highly dynamic show that literally made the audience sweat. Both artists sang with all their hearts in autotune and entice the crowd with extremely provocative dances during the show.

Each artist interacted with the audience throughout, often asking, “Are we sweaty yet?” The highlight of the audience interaction, however, was Charli XCX’s performance of the hit song “Apple.” The artist chose a group of girls from the crowd and showed them on the screens on stage as they performed the viral dance – which became popular across the social media platform. TikTok – which elicited thunderous applause from the audience.

The pair of artists kept the audience engaged through constant changes to the set, such as a silk bed with which Sivan created many sensual moments with the audience, increasingly intense strobe lights, and a cage-like construction both under the catwalk and behind the stage that allowed the artists to hold on to the poles and hit them with their bodies during the performance.

The show’s cameramen were also heavily involved in the design of the set, capturing the performance from different angles to display on the screens on stage, providing the audience with another interactive element.

Musical highlights of the show included Charli XCX’s remixes of her popular “Brat” songs, including “Guess featuring Billie Eilish” and “Girl, so confused featuring lorde.” The crowd responded to both songs with ecstatic energy, with fans jumping and throwing their hands in the air.

Arguably the best part of the show was the encore. Charli XCX paid tribute to the start of her career with her performance of Icona Pop’s 2012 hit “I Love It,” while Sivan treated the crowd to the best choreography – and the most provocative moment of the night, a smooch with one of his backup dancers – on his club smash “Rush.”

The show ended with a remix of “Talk Talk,” a track featuring Sivan from Charli XCX’s upcoming album “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.”

The couple sang the song together, celebrating one last time how successful they had been in making the audience sweat.

Rating: 5/5