Review: CHARLIE XCX BRAT 2025 ARENA TOUR at Target Center Minneapolis
This concert was on April 27, 2025
Minneapolis hasn’t felt that electric in a while. When Charli XCX descended on Target Center for her BRAT tour, she didn’t just deliver a show—she detonated one. It was grimy, sweaty, chaotic, and absolutely perfect.
With a green-tinted screen behind her flashing glitchy, brat-pink graphics and a minimal set that let her command the spotlight, Charli opened with “365,” the kind of unrelenting, bass-heavy anthem that instantly turned the arena into a nightclub. From there, she tore through a setlist that read like the diary of a heartbroken party girl with a megaphone: “Von Dutch,” “Club Classics,” “Rewind” — all blasted out in glorious, breathless succession.
This wasn’t the typical pop tour setup. No backup dancers, no outfit changes. Just Charli in a shredded sheer ensemble, stomping around like she owned every pixel of space. Which she did.
She leaned into BRAT's gritty edge with tracks like “Sympathy is a Knife” and “I Think About It All the Time,” but still made room for bangers like “Vroom Vroom,” “Unlock It,” and the always euphoric “1999.” “Speed Drive,” her Barbie era hit, hit even harder live—loud, messy, defiant. The crowd, a blur of glitter, mesh, and sunglasses worn indoors, ate up every second.
Vocally? Charli’s rawer than ever. She doesn’t try to be pristine—she goes for feeling. And she delivers. Her voice cracked during “So I” and it was all the more gutting for it. Then she turned right around and smashed “Twice” like it was the final song of the night (it wasn’t), just before hitting “I Love It,” the track that made her a household name.
The best part? She made a basketball arena feel like an illegal warehouse rave. You could feel the floor shake from the bass and the crowd’s energy. No choreo, no fluff—just Charli, the music, and the mayhem. It was sweaty, euphoric, unfiltered pop perfection.
Thank you Charli XCX for an amazing night! We hope to have you back again soon!
All photos are by Henry Redcliffe
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