Concert: Lily Allen

Lily Allen has only ever played Portland twice (once before at the Crystal, and the time before that at the Aladdin). As soon as I heard about her latest album, Sheezus, I knew she would tour and was hoping for a US leg! Lily had been on a hiatus since 2009's It's Not Me, It's You, and fans and cirtics alike were abuzz with excitement of the forthcoming album. October 6th couldn't get there fast enough!

The first single off Sheezus was a song called Hard Out Here which was critically acclaimed as a feminist anthem which discusses gender roles of women in the music industry as well as in society as a whole. The lyrics perfectly capture the thoughts of millions of women faced with the pressures of today's society, and the unfairness of how women and men are persevered in the media "If I told you 'bout my sex life, you'd call me a slut/When boys be talking about their bitches, no one's making a fuss". Lily Allen has always been outspoken about the inequality of genders and societal issues with women in the media, and it's a breath of fresh air from the usual popular garbage we're spoon fed from popular artists (most of whom don't even write their own lyrics).

I got to Ringler's Pub early to wait for the concert, and ended up meeting some like-minded people that let me join their table as we all waiting together. Once doors opened we rushed up the two flights of stairs, but saw four people already standing front and center even though we were the first people though the doors. I discovered late on that it was due to one of the girls having a brother that worked at the venue, so they were allowed in early. Unfortunately, these University of Oregon students were not very big fans and one of them (the tall brute of a man next to who was front and center) was on his phone the whole night. Totally disrespectful.

The opening act, Lolawolf, are a New York trio comprised of Jimmy Giannopoulos, James Levy, and none other than the daughter of Lenny Kravitz - Zoe Kravitz. They have a dreamy-synth sound with electronica undertones. They put on a good show, but it was a bit slow and most of the songs sounded alike to my mind, and no song was particularly distinct.

A friend of mine who somehow managed to get on the VIP list said she saw Alia Shawkat - best known for her role in Arrested Development as Maeby. Appearently Alia and Zoe are friends and Alia happened to be in town. Fun!

Lily's set consisted of oversized, light-up baby bottles scattered across the stage, and heavy, dense fog machine cover. I was wondering how the stage would be set considering the stage at the Crystal Ballroom is awkwardly in the corner, and not very large. I'm sure Lily is used to performing on big stages with lots of space for herself/the band/the backup dancers. They utilized the space well though, and everything fit nicely if not a bit snug.

Lily Allen and her back up dancers came on and started the show with the title track of the new album, Sheezus. She went right into the song It's Not Fair next, and at the beginning of the next song LDN she removed her sparkly top to reveal a pink polka-dot unitard. A mom of 2, Lily looked fantastic with her pink hair, sky high heels, and unitard. 

After the song URL Badman she exited the stage for a quick costume change - wile still speaking to the audience via her wireless microphone. She appeared a few minutes later wearing an oversized hockey jersey emblazoned with the number '420', with platform jelly sandals and pink socks, and a cigarette in her hand.

The song Smile concluded with a remix with heavy beats that her backup dances came on and grooved to.

For the encore, Lily came out in gold sparkly track pants and an Oregon State University Beavers T-shirt, much to the chagrin of the disrespectful U of O students next to me who booed at the sight of it.

The last song of the night was Hard Out Here, and the backup dancers all came onstage wearing black full body spandex and dog masks over their heads (get it? Bitches?).

All in all it was a great show! I was disappointed by the number of audience members with phones in their hands filming the show rather than actually enjoying it and not being an asshole to the people behind them, but it seems that's a train that is going full speed ahead and can no longer be stopped.