Little Simz live in London review: An unstoppable force of nature
At her first ever O2 Arena show, Little Simz effortlessly proves why she's one of the UK's brightest and best talents.
The first sight of Little Simz onstage at The O2 comes as the Mercury Prize winning rapper arrives at the mic cloaked in a hooded, custom khaki Maharishi jacket.
Introduced by esteemed British actress Emma Corrin, sentiments of loyalty and trust linger across the seismic rapper’s introduction. “Never accuse based on assumption,” Emma begins. “Everything is a conversation, be honest, even if they tarnish your name.” But Simbi has a score to settle, the juxtaposition of belief in others stained in moments as she roars across the stage. “Thief, I didn’t know what it means,” the arena chimes, Simz bouncing amidst strobe lights, sharp in her delivery.
As she kicks off with ‘Hollow’ and ‘Thief’ from her latest album Lotus, Simz delivers two frank tracks which many have widely interpreted as addressing her feud with former colleague, and long-term friend Inflo, whom she’s currently suing for alleged failure to repay loans. The self-proclaimed introvert is quite the opposite as she illuminates the O2, but is also able to optimistically bask in the bloom of her current circumstance. “They’re obsessed with my genius plan, and that’s being as free as I can,” she proclaims atop the drum heavy ‘Flood’, the live arrangement adding more stealth to her psalm. Simz didn’t just conceptualise an idea here, she actualised it. By the time she reaches the sets third number the audience believe her.
Across Little Simz’s ascension, she’s grown up before the eyes of a nation, relentlessly navigating the British music ecosystem. In her Lotus airing, she’s not afraid of letting the world in. In fact, she visually bares her skin, throwing her cloak to one side, by the end of the show’s first act. Bathing in previous works like 2022’s ‘Heart On Fire’, she documents her self restraint, belief, and discipline amidst the flames behind her. At large Lotus’, set-design is alluring, the outline of the flower standing as the stages anchor across the full two hour event, her praxis an aesthetic for viewers pleasure. Later, she squarely addresses the crowd, asking for London’s creative community to “start what you finish”. Acknowledging the fear she had getting to Lotus’ finishing line, she documents having to re-learn her instinctiveness creatively in the absence of previously trusted entities like Inflo. “I pushed through, and I’m so glad I did,” she says gently, her signature humility a centrepiece in her message.
In her march towards freedom, liberation, and overcoming, Simz is adamant in using the dancefloor as a space of catharsis. “London make some noise,” she suddenly instructs, strobe lights returning as they reveal Simbi on the decks. Multifaceted as a performer, Simz has quietly been teasing her love of the craft, performing a set at Meltdown festival in June. “Taking bookings,” she captioned. On-stage, her fluid meld of baile funk and electronic sonics entertains all. Seemingly a natural across the newer medium, the multifaceted talent doesn’t leave her set without a tease, this time, it’s of ‘Drop 7’ featuring the sharply poised, confident and hedonistic Lagos, to London rapper Deela. “You don’t ask, you don’t get, oya DJ, DJ, DJ,” the rapper booms across the stage adding flair to Simz’s already pulsating set. “New music,” Simz retorts back, a euphoria quickly engulfing the arena.
Simz’s quest for dominance hasn’t been easy, across her career, the lingering theme of misogyny and misogynoir has impacted perceptions of her abilities. On ‘Venom’, the rapper claps back, her quiet confidence now on full display, the stage’s apple green beams slithering behind the rapper as she roars “It’s a woman’s world, so to speak // Pussy, you sour.” Witnessing her at this height, after over a decade of labour, is refreshing at this juncture. It’s a proclamation that talent and simply that alone can and will be seen, eventually. It’s also an indictment on those who dismiss on the basis of sex. The zeitgeist has shifted, illuminating many a woman in rap on world-stages, Simz, at this juncture, etches her line in the sand as one of the best women the UK has seen atop the artform. Later, Wretch 32 and Cashh anoint her career-peak performing Lotus’ ‘Blood’ in real-time. It’s a moment that will surely etch itself to British-history, Wretch’s admiration for his fellow lyricist painted across his grin towards the song’s conclusion. The student has now become a long-term peer, the 40-year-old ecstatic at the legacy that Little Simz continues to construct across her decorated career.
Simbi doesn’t just prove that she’s at a career peak across her Lotus tour, but she reminds audiences of the resilience it’s taken to wed herself to the world-stage. Having navigated one of the hardest plights in the headlights, surviving with a body of work to show for it, one thing is clear: If she wasn’t already, Little Simz is now lethal. Untouchable as she exits the stage.