Singer claims she was late arriving on stage because her ‘tights were laddered’
Lily Allen has defended charging fans £86 to “sit in the gods” for an hour.
The singer, whose album West End Girl was released last October, has been touring Europe since March. She faced criticism online following her recent London dates, after she arrived on stage at the O2 at 9.10pm and left by 10pm.
The singer has now claimed she was “a few minutes late” because her “tights were laddered” and she “had to change them”.
Rupert Hawksley, The Spectator’s opinion editor, wrote online: “Lily Allen at The 02. No support act. Arrived on stage at 9.10pm. All wrapped up by 10pm. Not one word to the audience. £86 to sit in the gods.”
Within hours, Allen responded on X, saying she was “extremely proud” of the West End Girl tour and that she didn’t “want anyone to feel ripped off”.
“There is a support act. The show has always been advertised as ‘Lily Allen performs West End Girl’.”
Allen is touring with the string orchestra Dallas Minor Trio, who play songs from Allen’s discography as the lyrics are played on a screen, encouraging the audience to sing along.
She added: “The show is just over an hour as it’s just the album in its entirety. It’s my artistic choice not to talk to the audience, the fourth wall helps with the storytelling. Most people find it to be effective.”
West End Girl is Allen’s fifth studio album, and the singer last went on tour in 2018, following the release of her fourth album, No Shame.
Allen’s latest album followed her high-profile split from David Harbour, the Stranger Things actor, in early 2025. The songs depicted an unflattering image of an open marriage gone wrong.
Harbour, who was married to Allen for four years, responded to the songs in an interview with Variety last month, saying: “Stories are complex, and that’s why I say I respect her creation of art to channel her experience. It wasn’t my experience.”
Allen, a mother of two, previously said that she had “wanted to die” following the breakdown of the relationship and had checked herself into a trauma clinic.
Speaking to Vogue in October last year, she said the songs were “inspired by what went on in the relationship”, but added: “That’s not to say that it’s all gospel.”
Harbour, 51, has chosen to maintain his silence regarding details shared by Allen in her songs, including her description of finding sex toys hidden in a carrier bag from a chemist in the marital bedroom.
Speaking last year, Allen insisted there were “a lot of good things” about her relationship with Harbour, and said Ethel and Marnie, her daughters from her first marriage, had “had an amazing experience living in America for five years”.
“I have a lot of compassion for my ex-husband. I think we all suffer,” she added.
In the title track of the album, the singer discusses a phone call in which a husband is telling his wife, from the other side of the Atlantic, that he wants to open up their marriage while she is working in London.
In August 2021, almost a year after Harbour and Allen married, Allen made her critically acclaimed West End debut in the supernatural thriller 2:22 A Ghost Story, in which she played the lead role and was nominated for an Olivier award.
The lyrics of the album imply that this was when the couple’s pledge to be monogamous was challenged.
