Saturday 19 May 2018

Rita Ora @ O2 Brixton Academy

Rita Ora @ O2 Brixton Academy

Rita Ora's in a funny position. Her breakthrough on the DJ Fresh track Hot Right Now was way back in 2012 and since then she's released an album, featured in the Fifty Shades films, presented America's Next Top Model, coached and judged on The Voice UK and X Factor UK, and split from her management company. She is undoubtedly a huge star, but she still only has one album and a clutch of singles.

Yet since signing to Atlantic last year, she's finally becoming the popstar she was always meant to be. As she tours around the UK and Europe this summer, this return to London was a triumphant, exuberant display of her talents.

Perhaps surprisingly, she frequently delved into her back catalogue - much to the delight of the cheering crowd. "When you come to a Rita Ora concert, there aren't any breathers," she quipped and she wasn't wrong - R.I.P, How We Do (Party), I Will Never Let You Down, Black Widow, Doing It (sadly sans Charli XCX). For a relatively small number of singles, every one sounds like the big anthem to end the night - except they just keep coming.

Of course, it's the new singles that she's really promoting. Comeback single Your Song opened the show after a bombastic opening video of grand cityscapes and extreme close-ups. Anywhere was its bookend, complete with confetti cannons that seems poised to blow at any point throughout. In the middle were Lonely Together - a fitting tribute to the sadly passed Avicii - and latest single Girls where fans joined her on-stage, presumably to distract from the recent controversy surrounding the lyrics. A glimpse into the future too, with Summer Love (a collaboration with Rudimental) set to take over the summer months.

Too easily, though she slips into the overblown, a parody of a popstar. For Body On Me she played with fabric in front of a wind machine; later she was attacked by gigantic doves, dipped in a bath of milk, and sang along to her own gigantic face. Fireworks accompanied almost every song. It was bonkers.

Arguably she danced more than she sang - her voice was frequently drowned out by the backing track - and her few interactions with the crowd were mainly "make some noise!" She is an entertainer more than an artist, but here she delivered a performance worthy of a stadium tour. With such a huge screen providing the backdrop, it was like being immersed in a music video.

Bonkers, yes, but brilliantly entertaining.

4/5

Rita Ora @ O2 Brixton Academy

Rita Ora @ O2 Brixton Academy

Rita Ora @ O2 Brixton Academy

Rita Ora @ O2 Brixton Academy