Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
Photo by Henry Redcliffe
The SWEAT tour featuring Troye Sivan and Charli XCX took over Boston by force this weekend. What was essentially the Olympics for bisexuals had thousands of twenty-somethings who celebrated “Brat Summer” line up outside TD Garden on a brisk fall afternoon. At first glance, you would have thought the Celtics were playing with the amount of green shirts being worn by everyone outside. If you forgot to wear green, a shirt can be picked up at merch that just reads “brat” right as you walk in the doors. The dress attire is “indie sleaze,” but maybe people missed The Dare’s memo.
Lines that wrapped around TD Garden waiting for merch quickly dissipated as Shygirl came out to open the night at 7:30. When you are opening for one of the most anticipated tours of the year, it can be nerve racking but despite the project name, they proved they were anything but shy. Alcohol and the excitement of the night to come was flowing through the crowd and everyone in the standing sections danced with each other during the 45 minute opening slot. That’s not to say the seated sections weren’t having fun, but the ibuprofen needed for our lower backs hadn’t kicked in yet. By the time Shygirl finished, it was evident they had won the hearts of the sold out arena.
The presentation of Troye and Charli on this tour is unusual. I have only seen two artists play at the same time, switching off every few songs, in my college days when bands did “battle sets” to beat the looming curfew. The uniqueness makes this tour one you will not want to miss. Troye opened their conjoined performance by having a crew of dancers mysteriously waving around him as he kicked off with the lead single from Something To Give Each Other, “Got Me Started.” The dancers that were cloaked in darkness were eventually brought into the light and began seductively moving on and around Troye who is set on embracing his sexuality to the fullest. The cheers and whistling from the crowd prove they see themselves in the Australian pop star and feel safe being themselves in such a large space surrounded by complete strangers.
Photo by Henry Redcliffe
After Troye’s first batch of three songs, he left the stage as a “brat” curtain draped over the end of the walkway on the stage. Charli was up and as the curtain dropped, everyone pushed up as close as possible to catch a glimpse of the queen responsible for their poor decisions this summer. Charli wasted no time getting those club classics bumping as she yelled, “Boston, thanks for selling this bitch out” and brought out Shygirl for a “365” remix. The buzz was coming on strong as the audience smiled and cried tears of joy hearing their summer anthems live. Songs that carried them through a hot, sweaty, and politically tumultuous summer were now reverberating through them in a mass celebration among strangers that felt like family for the night. We were most certainly living that life “Von Dutch” tonight.
Photo by Henry Redcliffe
Troye and Charli spent the night passing the torch back and forth to each other all night while giving us a glimpse into the emotional world these songs meant to them. Without struggle there is no meaningful art and it’s clear that confronting their own personal convictions on their latest albums was the start of a chain reaction to freeing themselves. For every song that Troye had front and center on stage expressing the freedom he feels in being a queer pop star, Charli would find herself in the makeshift cage under the stage symbolizing feeling trapped by the genre she has niched herself into. Not that the niche she has carved is bad but before the culture phenomenon of “brat summer,” she felt as though she faded into the background.
Photo by Henry Redcliffe
As we moved into the final acts of the night started, Troye brought out mega hits “Bloom,” “One of Your Girls,” and “STUD” to compete against Charli’s “Everything is Romantic,” “Speed Drive,” and “Apple.” The attendees in the sold out arena were more than willing to partake in the “Apple” dance led by a lucky audience member who blew kisses to everyone as Troye and Charli cheered him on. Now this tour was the first time Troye Sivan and Charli XCX were in a room together live besides a one of Coachella performance and that could only mean one thing — their collab track “1999” was coming. The duo took to the end of the stage and anchored themselves to the railing of a lift that raised them up for us to worship from below. All of us yelling, “I just wanna go back, back to 1999” at the top of our lungs was a needed catharsis. The people do not want to work a 9-5, they want to go back to best friends, all night, no phone!
Photo by Henry Redcliffe
As the summer ends, it is time to collect ourselves and prepare for the cold weather that is coming. We think it is in your best interest to get one more good SWEAT and to make it out to this cultural spectacle before it’s gone for good. Find your favorite green shirt and grab remaining tickets HERE!
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Kyle Musser//
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