{"id":502703,"date":"2026-06-30T12:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T12:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/502703\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T12:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T12:44:10","slug":"lily-allen-defends-artistic-choice-after-criticism-of-west-end-girl-tour-im-extremely-proud-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/502703\/","title":{"rendered":"Lily Allen defends “artistic choice” after criticism of ‘West End Girl’ tour: “I’m extremely proud of it”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lily Allen<\/a> has responded to criticism of her current \u2018West End Girl\u2019<\/a> tour, saying she is \u201cextremely proud of it\u201d.<\/p>\n

The singer-songwriter is out on a UK and Ireland arena trek<\/a>, marking the biggest headline shows of her career. She is performing her acclaimed 2025 album in full at the dates.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0Lily Allen \u2013 \u2018West End Girl\u2019 review: a vicious, vulnerable and victorious comeback<\/a><\/p>\n

As with her intimate theatre gigs earlier this year<\/a>, Allen is not playing any of her older hits. However, a string section called the Dallas Minor Trio is reimagining some of the star\u2019s classic tunes in the support slot.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s main set \u2013 made up of 14 songs across three acts \u2013 does not feature a live band, and sees her perform to a backing track on a play-style set with various props.<\/p>\n

Following her two huge concerts at London\u2019s O2 over the weekend, Allen hit back at some criticism of the tour from The Spectator\u2018s opinion editor, Rupert Hawksley. He said that the show in the capital had \u201cno support act\u201d, and ran for less than an hour.<\/p>\n

Hawksley also took issue with Allen saying \u201cnot one word to the audience\u201d, and highlighted that tickets cost \u201c\u00a386 to sit in the gods\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response, the singer quote-tweeted the post, writing: There is a support act. The show has always been advertised as \u2018Lily Allen performs West End Girl\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a few mins late as my tights were laddered and I had to change them. The show is just over an hour as it\u2019s just the album in its entirety.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cIt\u2019s my artistic choice not to talk to the audience, the fourth wall helps with the storytelling. Most people find it to be effective. I don\u2019t want anyone to feel ripped off.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone on this tour is really working very hard to give people the best show we possibly can, and I\u2019m extremely proud of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a support act. <\/p>\n

The show has always been advertised as \u201cLily Allen performs West End Girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was a few mins late as my tights were laddered and i had to change them. <\/p>\n

The show is just over an hour as it\u2019s just the album in its entirety. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s my artistic choice not\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/6qmrixFHXT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Lily Allen (@lilyallen) June 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Later, Hawksley clarified that he was \u201cnot critical\u201d of Allen\u2019s decision to focus solely on her latest record, adding: \u201cBut no support act and not even a \u2018thank you so much for coming\u2019 was a bit weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen replied: \u201cI\u2019d happily concede that I\u2019m a bit weird, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another tweet, Hawksley wrote: \u201cTo be clear because this is obviously framed in a negative way (my fault). The performance was brilliant \u2013 but it can\u2019t be right to charge that much for an hour, late on Sunday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019d happily concede that I\u2019m a bit weird, though. https:\/\/t.co\/uCR7bXFe3i<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Lily Allen (@lilyallen) June 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

For the avoidance of doubt https:\/\/t.co\/G9zzlx7e12<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Rupert Hawksley (@ruhawksley) June 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NME caught Allen live at the London Palladium in March as part of her smaller tour. Our three-star review <\/a>called that show \u201ca powerful retelling of one of pop\u2019s most gut-wrenching albums\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to kick off the show with a 40-minute karaoke-style singalong to her biggest hits \u2013 with the singer not onstage \u2013 is questionable,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the energy is palpable with opening tracks \u2018The Fear\u2019, \u2018LDN\u2019 and \u2018Not Fair\u2019, as it progresses past the 10-minute mark, interest rapidly wanes, and it sinks in that those looking forward to hearing Allen perform her biggest hits will have to wait a little longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The review continued: \u201cThen, with just an hour left until the night comes to an end, Allen finally takes to the stage, cheekily smiling as she pops out from behind a green curtain, and kicks off what is closer to a one-woman theatre performance than a gig. Noticeably devoid of a live band (with Allen singing to a backing track for the entire show), backing dancers or any interaction with the crowd, this feels like a chance to better understand \u2018West End Girl\u2019 than a night out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LilyLily Allen \u2018West End Girl\u2019. CREDIT: Charlie Denis<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s UK and Ireland \u2018West End Girl\u2019 tour continues with two nights at Dublin\u2019s 3Arena tonight and tomorrow (Tuesday June 30 and Wednesday July 1), ahead of a final stop at London\u2019s O2 on July 7.<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll take to the stage at some summer festivals, too, including Boardmasters<\/a>, Bilbao BBK Live in Spain<\/a> and Denmark\u2019s Roskilde<\/a>. Allen played the biggest North American tour of her career<\/a> this spring, and will return to the US and Canada this September. An Australian leg is set to follow later in the autumn.<\/p>\n

Allen headlined London\u2019s Mighty Hoopla<\/a> last month, with over 35,000 tickets being sold for the event in just 30 minutes after going on sale<\/a>. She was joined on stage by JADE<\/a> to perform the pair\u2019s recent \u2018Beg For Me\u2019 remix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In other news, Allen\u2019s ex-husband David Harbour has broken his silence on the \u201cweird\u201d experience of\u00a0her detailing their break-up on \u2018West End Girl\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The tour has seen the singer perform in a dress that displayed receipts for Harbour\u2019s alleged gifts to\u00a0other women<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a four-star review,\u00a0NME described \u2018West End Girl\u2019 a \u201cvicious, vulnerable and victorious comeback\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Allen has insisted that the record is \u201cnot a cruel album\u201d, saying she does not \u201cneed revenge\u201d<\/a>\u00a0on her ex. She\u00a0explained that making the LP had been \u201can act of desperation\u201d<\/a>, calling it \u201ca mixture of fact and fiction\u201d.\u00a0Allen also said \u2018West End Girl\u2019 had been inspired by the \u201cstorytelling\u201d style of The Streets\u2019 \u2018A Grand Don\u2019t Come For Free\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In March,\u00a0Allen unveiled the original\u00a0\u2018West End Girl\u2019 painting at the National Portrait Gallery in London<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lily Allen has responded to criticism of her current \u2018West End Girl\u2019 tour, saying she is \u201cextremely proud…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69,4913],"class_list":["post-502703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}