PinkPantheress pulls out all the stops at London's Ally Pally

Words: Abi Firth.

Transitioning from the For You page to a massive stage isn't easy. Many of the artists who've been fast-tracked to impressive festival slots and big venue bookings after a viral hit have been criticised for their disappointing shows and lack of stage presence.

But PinkPantheress might be TikTok's first proper success story. Although her early tracks spread like wildfire over there, she arrived on the platform fully loaded, with an artistic vision that extended beyond the 30-second clips, a refusal to be tied down to one genre, and both critical and commercial triumphs fleshing out her discography.

It's a journey that's led PinkPantheress to a sold-out show at Alexandra Palace, just three stops into her first proper headline tour and less than three years after her breakout singles landed on streaming platforms. It's one of those early tracks that opens the show tonight, Pink stepping out to 'Break It Off''s thundering drum'n'bass beat, beefed up dramatically with a live band.

The introduction of a live band particularly helps Pink cut through in ways she'd struggled to in her early days, her once hushed voice also perfectly clear now. The bag she'd become notorious for carrying on stage with her remains, at least for the first couple of tracks, before setting it down for 'Mosquito', the lead single from last year's debut album 'Heaven knows'.

A front-loaded set, 'Pain', 'Passion' and 'Just for Me' come and go early on, all strung together so the audience needn't bother putting their phones down, while the less familiar album tracks shine in the show's second half. Assisted by showgirls as backing dancers for the Willow collaboration 'Where You Are', and ballroom dancers for 'The aisle', while she reclines on a chaise longue similar to that featured on the 'Heaven knows' album art, she notes that she had to do something special for Ally Pally.