“Charli XCX and Troye Sivan stun in Los Angeles: concert review”

For Charli, that would be Brat — not exactly the remix album that dropped last week, although she did bring out Kesha for the freshly unpacked version of “Spring Breakers” and a taste of her signature hit “Tik Tok.” Her performance was simple and pointed. As she has throughout her career, she pumped her fists in the air, writhed around the stage and outplayed the audience, throwing in a few catalog classics here and there as a regular reminder, if you will, that her career has roots (she performed “Vroom Vroom,” “Track 10,” and even Icona Pop's “I Love It.” There was nothing shockingly new about her live set — usually it's just Charli, the mic and the audience – but the context has changed, and at the Forum show the moment seemed to have struck them.

Sivan took a more concerted approach to presenting the songs from his latest album, “Something to Give Each Other,” gathering a group of well-dressed backup dancers to embody what we would traditionally expect from a headliner. Pop star lore makes one hope for full-fledged choreography, and Sivan delivered, revisiting the folded arms, swinging kicks and lascivious lap dancing of his “Rush” and “One of Your Girls” music videos. He brought out Tate McRae for a quick version of her collaboration “You” with Regard and stretched his arms toward a web of LED ropes at the end of “Rager Teenager!”

Of course there were crossovers. They reimagined “1999,” their first-ever collaboration, with fewer bold piano hits and a more industrial edge, and closed the show together singing their remix to Charli's “Talk Talk.” The audience reaction wasn't as jarring as reports of their New York shows suggested, but if you put that down to the overly chilly attitude of a Los Angeles audience, you can understand why.

The venues may have changed—Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum are new territory for Charli and Sivan, at least as headliners (at one point, Sivan remembered he last opened for Robyn on the same stage)—but the party ambitions have changed. t, and both seemed at home at the more intimate Forum Club, where Spotify hosted the post-party tour. It was an assault on the senses: Charli manned the DJ decks alongside her fiancé George Daniel and Zoe Glitter, and everywhere you turned there was a familiar face. In one corner sat Fergie, Blackpink's Jennie, Halsey, Lily-Rose Depp and Barbie Ferreira; Seen in the crowd were Kaia Gerber, Kate Berlant, Dom Dolla, Benny Blanco and more.

It wasn't just that Charli and Troye's stocks rose – that certainly helped – but also that they captured the zeitgeist in a way they always hinted they would. Audiences, and apparently celebrities too, are attracted to this casualness, this intangible quality that demands your attention. On the Sweat tour, this became clear for two pop stars who have continued to grow and captivated their fans in the process.