Lily Allen
London Somerset House
11th July, 2009

Famously outspoken, and with her ability to ruffle the odd feather, Lily Allen was surprisingly sweet and considerate to the audience in her native London. After a slightly subdued opening, dampened by a continual drizzle over the open-air venue, the glamorously-attired Lily, who has grown into her role as all-round pop entertainer, set things alight with a trio of songs – her cover of Kaiser Chiefs’ Oh My God; the contemplative rumination on religion that is Him, performed while dancing with a cigarette; and her latest single, 22. Her biggest charters, LDN and Smile, followed, before the show culminated in another exceptional sequence: The Fear, a social commentary about celebrity; her brilliant cover of Britney Spears’ Womanizer; and F**k You, openly directed at the BNP. Political, but Lily is the quintessential modern pop star.