Utilita Arena Birmingham, 28th June 2024
In the fifteen or so years that Troye Sivan has been in the public eye, we’ve seen quite a few different versions of him. Initially emerging as a cornerstone of the early 2010s YouTube scene, Sivan swiftly pivoted, releasing his first LP Blue Neighbourhood in 2015. By 2018, with the release of Bloom, he had cemented himself as a pop tour de force, collaborating with the likes of Ariana Grande (‘Dance To This’) and Gordi (‘Postcard’). However, it’s 2024 and the release of his third full-length album, Something to Give Each Other, that mark the Australian/South African singer’s arrival into his own. And if the eponymous tour is anything to go by, Sivan is only just warming up.
As the lights dim and the synth riff of the smooth and sultry ‘Got Me Started’ starts playing, electric blue light floods the venue. Thunderous applause welcomes Sivan’s arrival alongside a six-piece dance troupe, scattered on the colossal metal scaffolding adorning the stage. The accompanying choreography for ‘Got Me Started’ – and, indeed, for the rest of the show – is as sharp as it is sensual, with clockwork-like precision determining Sivan and his dancers’ every move. The palpable chemistry between them makes the crowd feel like intruders in an intimate moment, a feeling accentuated by the fact Sivan singing is into a strategically placed microphone held between a dancer’s legs.
It becomes clear that Sivan has taken no shortcuts with the staging
The slick ‘What’s The Time Where You Are?’ and the lovesick ‘My My My!’ are equally visually stunning, with Sivan and his dancers weaving seamlessly around each other with impeccable grace. “I wrote [Something to Give Each Other] to be performed live,” Sivan tells the eager concertgoers. And work well live, it does. Below, the crowd is an amalgamation of bodies dancing, singing, laughing, and relishing the welcoming, inviting atmosphere Sivan creates.
‘In My Room’, a collaboration with Spanish singer-songwriter Guitarricadelafuente, sees Sivan shirtless and sprawled out on a king-sized bed, complete with a dazzling silver duvet. “I’m just thinking of you, it’s a feeling I can’t describe,” he sings earnestly into the microphone while grinding on the sheets. It becomes clear that Sivan has taken no shortcuts with the staging, gleefully reaping the rewards as he delivers an engaging and mesmerising show.
During ‘Dance to This’ and ‘supernatural’ – both collaborations with Ariana Grande – and ‘You’, a collaboration with DJ and producer Regard and recent breakout star Tate McRae, it becomes painfully apparent that Troye Sivan should be a much bigger star than he is. The fact his collaborators aren’t there to share the stage with him doesn’t faze him. Sivan is a bona fide pop powerhouse and is more than capable of providing the joyous, thumping dance hits the audience is ravenous to hear on his own.
Sivan and the crowd’s desire to have fun is so intense that the blue-tinted, slower-tempo section of the set comes with an apology: “Sorry guys, I’ve got five more minutes of being emo left. Then we can go back to being slutty,” he quips, before launching into the tear-jerking guitar-led break-up ballad ‘could cry just thinking about you’.
In a time where it almost feels like LGBTQ+ rights are going backwards worldwide, Sivan carves a safe space for people to explore queer love
As the lights dim once again, and before the hangover from the melancholy of ‘Still Got It’, ‘Can’t Go Back, Baby’, and ‘could cry just thinking about you’ settles in, a video of Sivan, clad in full drag fills the screens. The crowd’s emotional faces are illuminated and Sivan wastes no time launching into the start of the lustful ‘One of Your Girls’.
Here, Sivan delivers a masterclass in pop performance. Wearing a black, satin ribbed corset, Sivan seduces one of his dancers, straddling the line between sexuality and tenderness. “Give me a sign if you ever get lonely, I’ll be like one of your girls,” he sings, as does every single person in attendance.
The explosive ‘1999’, a collaboration with fellow electropop star Charli XCX, with whom Sivan is set to tour later in the year, receives a raucous reception. Mammoth screens tint the arena ‘brat green’ – the lurid shade of lime green Charli XCX is using to promote her latest album – while Sivan and the crowd indulge in the song’s witty lyrics, chock-a-block with references to 90s nostalgia.
The show reaches its climate during the encore, where the blissful ‘Honey’ and the thumping dance-floor track ‘Rush’ bring the night’s euphoria to a peak. As the arena erupts into one final cheer, it becomes evident what the Something to Give Each Other tour is really about: human connection after COVID, sweat, sex, and having the time of your life in a judgement-free zone. In a time where it almost feels like LGBTQ+ rights are going backwards worldwide, Sivan carves a safe space for people to explore queer love. And with Something to Give Each Other marking a definite new chapter in Sivan’s career, this might just be his opportunity to plunge into mainstream stardom.
Photos and words by Sophie Flint Vázquez – no use without permission.
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