When Little Mix’s mega-tour finishes in May, the UK will be without a major girl group for the first time in decades. After winning the X Factor in 2011, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards have carried the torch for campy girl power, and in Newcastle, the trio show why their “extended hiatus” feels so bittersweet.
Draped in neon feathers, Little Mix are suspended from the ceiling as they blast through the ultimate kiss-off anthem, Shout Out to My Ex. Confetti cannons explode and the sold-out arena crowd are going word-for-word on the track’s gleeful cutdowns. This is a show for the back rows: maximalist, assertive and heavily rhinestoned.
