Ke$ha at Brixton Academy

If you didn’t already know that Ke$ha was taking the stage at Brixton Academy last night, the glitter-soaked pavements surrounding the venue would have clued you in. Her sparkle-drenched fans, or “Animals” as she calls them, piled in to dance their hearts out despite the sweltering heat.

Ke$ha’s live show is certainly an experience: there’s lots of glitter, of course, and some sword-spinning neon ninjas that welcome her on stage. At one point, a giant inflatable pig appears. At another, she puts on some goggles and starts welding. Ke$ha herself refers to it all as a “shitshow” and she’s not wrong, but it’s an incredibly entertaining one. 

The mania of a Ke$ha concert leaves the audience hurtling from dance hit to some well-intentioned but somewhat shallow speeches about bullying and gay rights, and watching a guy in a penis suit hump a man dressed up as a chicken. She has several costume changes, each more strange and bedazzled then the last, and fires dollar bills printed with her face at the crowd. 

Her male dancers appear on stripper poles, giving her lap dances while she comes out with gems like “why talk when you can bone?” before launching into Blah Blah Blah. With very little subtlety, Ke$ha seems to be completely subverting social expectations of gender and sexuality. She cavorts around like the classic over-sexed male rockstar, telling the men in the audience to get their balls out and mentioning how “amazing” her vagina is. 

Her brash, aggressively liberated persona is reinforced by her insistently catchy hits. Tik Tok, Take It Off and Die Young are all instantly familiar, enjoyable songs with dirty lyrics that have everyone dancing through their sweat. With upcoming collaborations with Iggy Pop and The Flaming Lips arriving soon, her detractors may need to rethink their position. Maybe Ke$ha is trying to be the face of modern female sexual liberation, maybe she’s just a foul-mouthed human glitter bomb, but either way she puts on a hell of a show. 

Annie Robinson

For further information and future events visit Ke$ha’s website here.

Watch the video for Crazy Kids here: