Photo: Fraser Kerr

Live Review: Ashnikko – Weedkiller Tour 2023 – Alexandra Palace, London

It was a bold choice for Ashnikko to change her visual style for her debut album, from the hot pink and bubblegum blue world of past releases, to the dystopian fairy apocalyptic universe found within ‘Weedkiller’. Despite the different visual style, the songs were just as powerful, catchy, and erotic, exploring themes of assault, grief, and queer love, which fans were excited to see live, having sold out most of her shows across Europe and the UK. With that said, we knew she would put on an insane performance in London, which we had to head up to Alexandra Palace for, here’s what went down.

As soon as we walked in and saw the stage, we knew Ashnikko was in the building. White inflatable tentacles adorned the stage, clean and minimalist – almost like the ones from the ‘Demidevil’ tour had shed their colour and corrupted eyes, in a healing journey. The only trace suggesting that they ever existed being in the subtle pink and blue lighting. The occasional smoke shrouded the venue in mystery and the crowd was itching with anticipation.

First to break the silence was Hemlocke Springs, a young American indie-pop singer, whose sound was ethereal and transported us to a fairy forest, almost like guiding us towards the world of WEEDKILLER. With her blue hair echoing Ashnikko’s presence, she turned up on stage like she owned it. Powerful yet soft vocals, funny intermissions between songs, and apart from the slightly nervous laughs and the fact that she told us this was her biggest show yet, we would’ve been none the wiser. The crowd was bopping their heads all throughout the set and responded well to her prompts, cheering hard for her and her drummer when they finished off and left the stage.

The beautiful performance lured in a lot more people, which we must say, were dressed on point. From colourful hair to spiky boots, these fans had it all! When the screens started displaying an egg in a burnt red apocalyptic world, we knew it was hatching time. The singer started out strong with the first single ‘You Make Me Sick!’ (which happens to be my top song of the year) getting the fans jumping ecstatically and singing the lyrics back at her.

Photo: Fraser Kerr

“WHAT! WHAT! WHAT! WHAT!” the fans started shouting without missing a beat as it was time to get ‘STUPID’. Clearly this wasn’t loud enough for the artist as she stopped the show to ask them if they even knew the song. Starting again, even louder this time, it was an absolute blast, rolling into another favourite, ‘Working Bitch’. ‘Don’t look at it’, and ‘Super Soaker’ followed, each song, prefaced by a witty comment or an immersive story about forests, mud and tempting creatures. During ‘Slumber Party’, Ashnikko’s hands were tied (literally) as she bent over to show us she can sing despite restraint. The fans went crazy!

After the heated display, it was time to slow it down a notch. The artist thanked everyone for coming and confessed that playing at Alexandra Palace had been her dream for a long time, as she used to pass the venue every day on her way to the studio. Brought to tears, she sang ‘Dying Star’, her most romantic song yet. More nostalgia followed for the fans as ‘Invitation’ was next, a song that reminds both her and them of the beginning of a journey, in different ways.

Photo: Fraser Kerr

More bops followed, both old and new, ‘Worms’, ‘Cry’, and ‘Chokehold Cherry Python’ after which the fans were told to get out their pom-poms and cheer for ‘Tantrum’ and ‘Cheerleader’. Festivities ensued with the (sort of) Christmas-y song ‘Manners’ which thankfully didn’t leave a taste of Yankee candles in our mouths, as Ashnikko made the crowd travel back in time about a month to celebrate Halloween as well, with an exciting mashup of the ‘Halloweenie’ pentalogy to close out the main set.

The first song to start the encore was ‘Possesion of a Weapon’ followed by the highly expected ‘WEEDKILLER’ beast, which went hard, with lots of sparks and smoke, ending with Ashnikko firing a gun in front of a tree, which alluded to the album’s artwork. The show ended with the TikTok viral song ‘Daisy’ which riled up the fans one last time, screaming and jumping, not wanting to let the artist go.

We’ve seen Ashnikko grow stylistically and visually from her first EP to her debut album, but the same cannot be said about her live performance, as her vocal ability seems to have declined since the ‘Demidevil’ tour. It felt like a lot more effort had been put into the choreography (which admittedly, was really good) and the singing took a backseat, relying heavily on playback. We know Ashnikko can fucking sing and it’s a shame to hear the backing track so often, as it ruins her credibility even when she is really singing. Overall, the show had good energy and was entertaining and fun for fans to sing along with their idol, but if you were hoping to see vocal excellence, wait for the next tour, hopefully it will get better by then.

Photo: Fraser Kerr