Since Pinkpantheress first snuck into cool kids’ playlists with 2021’s “Break It Off” — and truly exploded into the world of mainstream pop with 2023’s Ice Spice-assisted “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” — the British singer-songwriter has consistently offered an incisive reflection of Gen Z’s Internet-driven, hyper-self-aware, irony-anchored humor and culture. Her bite-sized tracks helped her become one of TikTok’s earliest favorites, but her witty, honest lyricism and infectious self-produced records that blend drum and bass, garage, and alternative pop helped her transcend the volatile social media app.
On Friday night (Oct. 24), just a week after dropping her inventive Fancy Some More remix project, Pinkpantheress delivered the strongest, most fully-realized show of her career at the launch of the North American leg of her An Evening With… Pinkpantheress Tour. Kicking off her two-night residency at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre with “Stateside,” Pinkpantheress spent her set hitting all of her marks across a tri-staired platform flanked by her hilarious DJ on one end and her terrific drummer on the other. Over the course of a little over an hour, she played her entire Fancy That mixtape, which hit No. 4 on the Dance Albums earlier this year, as well as catalog highlights like “Just for Me,” “I Must Apologise,” “Another Life” and “Mosquito.”
Marking her third headlining trek in as many years, this latest tour seizes every opportunity to flaunt Pinkpantheress’ growth onstage. Not only is she visibly more comfortable — her facial expressions, banter, and sass were dialed up considerably on Friday night — but she and her creative team have also truly figured out how to streamline her aesthetics when translating her music to a live setting. Part of why Pinkpantheress has proven to be one of the most alluring new pop stars of the decade is because of its cozy DIY energy; to bring that to a 3,250-capacity venue, she enlisted the Pinkettes, the adorable faux girl group she forms during the show with her two backup dancers, both of whom donned their best Pinkpantheress-inspired garb. With The Pinkettes helping fill the stage and giving Pinkpantheress co-stars to bounce off of, the show felt much more visually complete than last year’s Capable of Love Tour.
Of course, Pink’s signature 2009 JCPenney-evoking remained paramount to the show’s visual identity, helping present her as a soft antithesis to the ultra-glamorous glitz of some of her contemporaries. Pink finds the sparkle in both the mundane and the profound, which is why she can seamlessly shift from a kitschy flip of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet (“Romeo”) to referencing nice Internet memes during her banter intermission. That intermission also proved strikingly candid, with Pink giving a heartfelt speech about her growth in confidence and comfort onstage over the past four years. “I don’t know if anyone was there for those [early shows], but I was shuffling [around],” she said. “I’m 24 now, and I started when I was 19… to be showing this newfound confidence in front of people is really exciting.”
From her Lalaloopsy-esque styling and classic jazz choreography to a surprise Zohran Mamdani appearance, here are the five best moments of Pinkpantheress’ latest tour.
DJ Joe
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}DJ Joe was a wonderful ball of energy. From maintaining the flow of the show to hopping into choreography and delivering solo sturdy moments of his own, DJ Joe absolutely understood the assignment as Pinkpantheress’ hype man. Although one of the signs inexplicably used stencil lettering, DJ Joe also had a handy collection of signs covered in lyrics and directions that played into the crowd’s penchant for ironic humor.
The Pinkettes Dance Battle
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}During “Girl Like Me,” Pinkpantheress kicked off a dance battle against the other two Pinketttes with nothing less than the KATSEYE Gap commercial choreography. As soon as she hit that kitty roll move, the entire theater lost their minds as the trio moved on to body isolations, a trusty two-step, and Aunt Viv’s iconic moves from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. For someone who clearly isn’t a trained or particularly natural dancer, Pinkpantheress found really cool and smart ways to incorporate choreography and movement throughout her set.
‘Romeo’ / ‘Boy’s A Liar’
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}“Illegal” has emerged as the defining hit of the Fancy That era, and it rightfully got a bombastic closing performance on Friday night. Nonetheless, “Romeo” is arguably the best song on the project, and the way Pinkpantheress arranged the setlist to set the song in conversation with her biggest hit yet, “Boy’s a Liar,” was pretty amazing.
After “searching” for her Romeo in the crowd, Pinkpantheress landed on a seemingly planted audience member and invited him onstage to dance as she sang the song. Once “Romeo” started hitting backflips, Pink momentarily stopped the show, proclaiming, “You’re not my Romeo!” As it turns out, the boy was, well, a liar, and Pink immediately jumped into her breakthrough smash. One part stage comedy and one part commentary on some of the self-inflicted shortcomings of dating in the digital age, Pinkpantheress played no games with her setlist curation.
Zohran Mamdani Makes Last-Minute Campaign Stop
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}Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City’s mayoral race, has been running an impressive campaign that has truly galvanized his younger support. To double down on his base right before early voting started on Saturday (Oct. 25), Mamdani made a surprise appearance at Pinkpantheress’ show during “True Romance.” Once the camera focused on him, Mamdani held up the palms of his hands, which had the message “Our time has come. Vote Nov. 4” scribbled on them.
Last month (Sept. 26), Mamdani made a surprise appearance during Lucy Dacus’ headlining set at All Things Go.
Setlist
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}“Illegal (Intro)”
“Stateside”
“Noises”
“Close to You”
“Nice to Know You”
“I Must Apologise”
“Break It Off”
“Last Valentines”
“Just for Me”
“Take Me Home”
“Pain”
“The Aisle”
“Nice to Meet You”
“Capable of Love”
“Another Life”
“Feel Complete”“True Romance”
“Stateside (Remix)”
“Girl Like Me”
“Tonight”
“Stars”
“Angel”
“Mosquito”
“Romeo”
“Boys a Liar, Pt. 2”
“Passion”
“Picture in My Mind”
“Illegal”
“Attracted to You (Encore)”
