By David Litin
Murphy News Service
Back-up dancers flaunted behind British pop-sensation Lily Allen as she opened her recent Minneapolis show with her hit “Sheezus.”
The “Smile” singer strutted across the stage wearing a glitzy silver shirt — which she later tore off exposing her leather bra and shorts as she opened with her lead single from her newest album, “Sheezus.”
Allen’s short pink hair matched with the oversized baby bottles on stage that often turned pink throughout the show.
She last performed in Minneapolis in 2009 when promoting her album “It’s Not Me, It’s You.”
Allen dazzled a Minnesota crowd for the first time since marrying building and decorator Sam Cooper in 2010, a marriage she called bliss. She has had two daughters with Cooper, which prompted her into a five year hiatus from performing.
Allen is not without her share of controversy despite a happy marriage. There was the time in 2006 when she publicly derided her brother, Alfie Allen, who now plays Theon Greyjoy on HBO’s huge cult hit “Game of Thrones.” She wrote the song expressing her concerns for her brother lazy attitude.
“Alfie was a loser,” she said, “that’s why [the song] ‘Alfie’ is about him.”
Allen said her brother did not respond well to the song when it first came out in 2006, she said in an interview with Pitchfork Magazine.
In the song, Allen tried to persuade her brother from wasting his life away. She writes about how Alfie was often in his room smoking marijuana or playing videos games. She even goes on to say that Alfie would not get a job. But Allen admits she was part of the reason for why he was the way he was.
“I’m feeling guilty for leading you astray,” she said in the song she wrote for him.
But according to Lily Allen, his brother did not react positively to the song.
“I thought he’d be really, really happy because it proved to him how much I loved him, that I care about him and I want him to do something with his life,” she told the magazine.
And Allen is no stranger to making obscene expressions while performing and encouraging the audience to follow suit. During her Oct. 1 show, she encouraged crowd members at the Skyway Theatre to raise their middle fingers during one of her most popular songs, “F#*k You.” Allen was dressed in a green leopard suit with red polka-dots, topped with a cat tail and ears that glowed in the dark.
Allen had posted a picture hours before the show on Instagram showing her nails painted to show people “twerking,” a prelude to what show-goers could expect at the show.
Allen pleased the crowd by poking fun at fellow pop singer Miley Cyrus by twerking throughout the show. Allen frequently spoofs on other artists, such Beyoncé and Katy Perry. She made headlines last year when she wore only a black bra and thong while dancing drunkenly to Beyonce’s “Drunk In Love.”
The Skyway crowd found themselves witnessing Allen at full steam and drinking booze and smoking cigarettes on stage as she stroked her microphone pole and did hand gestures some might deem NC-17.
Mixed in with Allen’s theatrics she actually performed a number of her hit songs: “Not Fair,” “URL Badman,” “22,” and “LDN.” She closed the night off with her Top-10 hit on current UK singles charts, “Hard Out Here.”
Allen said wrote the song while trying to get back in shape after giving birth to her two daughters. The song explores how people focus too much on body image and her perception of misogyny in the music industry.
The closing performance was topped off by dancers wearing dog masks and twerking on stage behind Allen as bright strobe lights flashed and the baby bottles changed colors with every verse.
And with that, Allen received a loud response from the crowd and said goodnight.
Reporter David Litin is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.