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Lily Allen is the cutest and also one of the coolest. I mean, I’m not biased or anything - maybe slightly - but you can’t hate on a lady who lets loose on stage… dancing like you would in the safety of your bedroom, comfy in some Air Jordans, lighting a cigarette, having a drink, giggling like she’s maybe a little self-conscious up there, discussing her under-attire Spanx, moaning about on-tour weight gain. You get my drift.

Lily changed venues to the Sound Academy after fans ravenously scooped up her first block of tickets set for The Phoenix Concert Theatre. And this place was paaaacked! She busted out from backstage with “Everyone’s At It” (or as her setlist says, “Everyone’s A Tit”) and then “I Could Say”. Throughout the night she stuck mostly to her latest album with a few tracks from Alright, Still thrown in for extra spice.

More, plus photos after the jump!

Fourth track in, Lily pulled out a medley of two of my fave CHYUNES, “Oh My God” and “Everything’s Just Wonderful”. A couple songs later the crowd celebrated when the first few bars of “LDN” shook the place, and once she even changed the lyrics to “walking round Toronto town”. Crowds love that ish. Say their city name a few times and they’re putty in your hands. They also love good stage banter, and Lily’s saucy, sometimes self-deprecating style is a testament to why I adore her as a pop star. Before “Not Fair” she announced, “if he can’t f*ck right, you know it’s over”, and when she shed her sweater to reveal a black tank top mini dress she said, “don’t laugh”. Midway through the set she asked for a stagehand to come out with some scissors to cut her laces, which were getting in the way of her dancing.

Early on she stated that this was the last stop on her North American tour, so it was high time to have a DRANK. I don’t know if it was the fact that she was about to go home, or maybe the drinks, but Lily was super loose and comfortable on stage. I think she’s definitely improved her presence since the last time I saw her at The Phoenix (I mean, she was good then, but better now). Later, she updated her Twitter to say that her ice cream fight backstage cost her $2000! Rock and rollllllll!

I don’t think the crowd was as enthusiastic as they could have been (more bopping!!!), but it was a descent vibe with good sing-a-longs during songs like “Smile” and “The Fear”. I think they went craziest during her closing cover of Britney’s “Womanizer”, which is kind of funny. In all, I think the set was strong - I would have loved to have heard a few more songs from Alright, Still but this IS a promotional tour for It’s Not Me, It’s You (also would have loved to hear “Nan, You’re A Window Shopper”). The new tracks all sound fantastic live, and I think my highlights were “Oh My God”, “He Wasn’t There”, “Smile” and “The Fear”.

Note: Before the show, Lily also did one of her Twitter ticket hunts. Do you know anyone who scored those?

Setlist (bam!):

Aaaaand some photos. I made some black & white because I FELT like it. Also because sometimes the lights made her entirely red and I just wasn’t feelin it.

Tags: concert reviews, concerts, lily allen, photos, reviews, sound academy

Posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm by Wendy and is filed under Concerts & Events.

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