“Hi, shall we begin?” comes the disembodied voice as Poppy’s spiky-knuckleduster logo appears overhead. Like Bambie Thug before her, it seems neither support can use the screens or giant walkway to their advantage (which, it must be said, lessens the impact of both sets), but Poppy takes it all in her stride as she bounds onstage to tear through have you had enough?. With her masked band lurking in the shadows, there’s a roaring heaviness that whirrs the first pits of the night into action, which show no signs of abating. A singer that once existed on their own genreless island, Poppy has since become one of the most in-demand artists in alternative music, working with the likes of Knocked Loose, HEALTH and Bad Omens, the latter of which she salutes tonight with the glitching cacophony of V.A.N., and a Meshuggah-level light-show only adding to the sensory onslaught.
Breakthrough hit I Disagree takes things up a notch, and as Poppy asks “can you give me a circle pit for this next song?” three instantly erupt across the floor for cute-yet-crushing Concrete. Taking the physicality further still by orchestrating two walls of death to new way out, Poppy is truly a commanding presence, but suddenly it’s all over, like we’d just hit top speed only to slam the brakes on. As Poppy skips away into the blackness, there’s confusion and disappointment as the set never properly capitalises on the crescendo, but like they say, always leave them wanting more…