LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: ASHNIKKO AT THE O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON, LONDON 19/02/26 (+ AMELIA MOORE)
Full photo gallery here
There are concerts that you attend, and then there are rooms that swallow you whole. On February 19, 2026, the O2 Academy Brixton didn't just host a show; it became a yonic portal into the "human realm" of Ashnikko. This was a 30th birthday celebration transformed into a mass-scale ritual - a high-concept "exorcism" of the sanitised, palatable world outside.
At its core, the night was a deliberate dismantling of the patriarchy. Ashnikko has built a career on reclaiming the "foul-mouthed" and "grotesque" parts of femininity that the male gaze traditionally tries to scrub clean. By inviting 5,000 strangers to crawl into the bottom of her handbag and find power in the "purse sediment" of their own identities, she effectively replaced societal expectations with a celebration of the messy and the unhinged.
“Hello, London my name is Amelia Moore, let’s have some fun.”
With that simple greeting, the Georgia-born, LA-forged songwriter set the tone for the night. Amelia Moore is a natural fit for Ashnikko’s world - crafting alt-pop that feels like it was written in the intimate corners of a bedroom but designed to be heard in a room this size.
For Moore, this London date felt like a real full-circle moment. Her journey is defined by a "homeschool to Hollywood" trajectory that sounds like a film script; raised in a conservative, religious household where secular music was essentially a foreign language, she grew up playing classical violin and piano. Her first real taste of the "outside world" was Justin Timberlake’s THE 20/20 EXPERIENCE (2013), the first non-religious record her mother ever allowed her to hear. After a stint at Belmont University in Nashville - which she describes as a total culture shock of "vaping and drinking" - she moved to LA at 18 to chase a sound that was entirely her own.
This isn’t Moore’s first time navigating a massive UK crowd. She really cut her teeth as the hand-picked support for FLETCHER on her 2022 tour and has since spent the last year turning heads at festivals like Camp Flog Gnaw and Outside Lands.
The setlist drew heavily from her dual-EP saga - HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU! (2024),and HE’S STILL JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU! (2025). She has this rare ability to jump from the clear, massive highs of 'i feel everything' to a more conversational vibe in 'fuck, marry, kill' without missing a beat. It was a masterclass in vocal range, showing off a stage presence that made the 5,000-capacity arena feel like her own headline show.
The standout moment was the live debut of 'City Angels', a track from her upcoming debut album. Moore explained it’s about the hollow, shimmering anxiety of Los Angeles - a place that can feel like a sanctuary and a vacuum at the same time.
But beyond her own songs, Moore clearly understood the community in the room. “Make some noise for Ashnikko, let’s see if we can say happy birthday as loud as we can,” she prompted, leading a 5,000-strong "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" brought a massive vibe to the start of the evening, ensuring we wouldn’t forget her name with a final reminder as she left the stage: “I’m Amelia Moore, don’t you forget that when you leave this room.”
The transition into Ashnikko’s world is a masterclass in absurdism. A voiceover echoes through the Academy - the sound of Ash rummaging through her handbag, pushing past the gum wrappers and old receipts to find a tiny, Alice In Wonderland-esque hidden door at the bottom of her purse. As she and her dancers crawled through a massive, central yonic portal, we were officially birthed into SMOOCHIES (2025).
For the 2026 SMOOCHIES tour, Ashnikko has pivoted away from the post-apocalyptic, sci-fi steel of WEEDKILLER (2023) to create something she describes as a "school-like play" or a "safe-house rave." It’s an intimate, slightly "disturbed" theatrical experience that she has reportedly invested her own money into to fully realise. The result is a production that feels like a mix of performance art and musical theatre, designed to foster a communal, euphoric atmosphere for a community that often finds the outside world hostile. It is a far cry from the sleek pop of her peers; it feels like a high-budget school play staged in a queer fever dream. SMOOCHIES, which reached Number 8 on the UK Vinyl Charts, is what she calls her "human realm." It’s an autobiographical diary written in the wreckage of a major breakup, finding a fierce abundance in her own company.
At its core, this show is a deliberate dismantling of the patriarchy. Ashnikko’s work has always been about reclaiming the "foul-mouthed" and "grotesque" parts of femininity that the male gaze traditionally tries to sanitise or ignore. By performing inside a garish, Barbie-like frame with a "Britney mic," she isn't just playing with pop tropes - she’s subverting them. She presents a sexuality that is aggressive, weird, and entirely on her own terms. Whether they're joking about "hairy Hobbit toes" or rambling about wanting to "eat crushes like a peach," she is stripping away the expectation for women in pop to be "palatable" or "pretty." In Smoochie World, the patriarchy is replaced by a celebration of the "messy" and the "unhinged."
It is a staggering cosmic coincidence that Ashnikko and Chappell Roan share the exact same birthday (February 19). They represent the perfect Yin-Yang of modern queer pop. While Chappell leans into the "Midwest Princess" camp - a drag-infused pageant of 80s synth-pop - Ashnikko is the darker, industrial counterpart. If Chappel brings a prom dream, Ashnikko is her feral counterpart offering the bathroom floor exorcism. She’s the "hairy Hobbit toes" to Chappell’s high fashion. Both play with internet subcultures, but where Chappell offers a dream, Ashnikko offers an empowerment hard-earned through the grit of reality.
It is impossible to watch Ashnikko’s manic-energy performance without drawing parallels to Jinx from Arcane. This connection was solidified with her track 'Paint The Town Blue', written specifically for the show’s second season. Ashnikko is the real-world Jinx - a character defined by "feminine rage" and chaotic creativity. She moves with a jagged “broken doll” energy that turns vulnerability into a weapon, proving that you can reinvent yourself a million times.
The setlist moves with a restless energy, kicking off with the industrial snap of 'Sticky Fingers' and the swagger of 'Working Bitch'. Ash was unapologetic about the milestone: "Today is my 30th birthday... I get sexier every year, hornier every year." She leaned into the visceral, rambling about wanting to "eat crushes like a peach and stick their hand in their nostrils to grab their brain" and the terrifying reality of microplastics in our blood - a jarring but perfect lead-in to 'Microplastics'.
As rolling clouds drifted onto the stage, it was time for a catchy highlight of the SMOOCHIES (2025) era, with ‘Trinkets’. “You know this is a home show for me, I've been living here since I was 18,” Ash noted, grounding the "fever dream" in reality before leaning into her trademark unfiltered banter. “You like that? A bit of scissoring?” The Trinket Swap has become a sacred ritual for this tour. Looking towards the audience, she asked, “Have you guys been exchanging trinkets? Good! That means so much to me!” “To see some shit on your head and run it... ANYTHING is a hat.” It was the perfect lead-in to her manifesto for the night: “You can be whatever you wanna be. You wanna be a jester? Wear a shoe for a hat? An aquarium for a dress? A tail? Something strange is happening. I wanna be a Smoochie girl.”
This leads directly into the night’s most anticipated tradition: the crowning of the Smoochie Girl. For this tour, Ashnikko has created a new ritual where she crowns one fan in every town - a "homecoming queen" for the strange and the authentic. The "Smoochie Girl" isn't just a title; it’s a validation of someone who has brought their full, messy self to the room.
The energy reached a fever pitch for Night 1 in London when Ash brought the legendary Tiara Skye onto the stage to help announce the winner. For the uninitiated, Tiara is a viral staple of the London queer scene - an Attitude Award winner known for her chaotic, high-energy Soho street interviews. Having her there felt like a massive nod to the local community. Together, they scoured the crowd before crowning the official Smoochie Girl of London N1.
The show took a vulnerable turn with 'Skin Cleared'. Standing on a stage littered with surrealist props, Ash took a moment to reflect on the wreckage that inspired the record. “I didn’t think it was working,” she admitted to the room, recounting the period after her breakup when she felt isolated, "befriending crows in my garden" and sending pictures of herself to friends as a way of proving she was still there. She spoke about the time she spent in Korea writing "very mean songs" - songs she pointedly said she doesn't regret because they were necessary for her survival. “It's good to write something to get something off your chest, to say goodbye”. This was a powerful message for anyone in the crowd who has ever felt diminished by a partner. "Sometimes you’re years deep into a relationship, and they’re using you as an object... they aren't interested in your world," she told us. Their advice was blunt and resonant: you have to sever the ties. You have to cut the cord. It was a grounded, relatable moment that connected the hyper-pop concept to real-world healing. As they put it: “When you’re out of it, your stomach feels better and you know, your skin clears.” It transformed the song from a breakup track in nature into a battle cry of self-care - a reminder that the best version of yourself usually shows up once you stop making yourself small for someone else.
Ashnikko stood at the centre of the stage, visibly moved and needing a sip of ginger tea to steady her voice. "We were told that beauty has an age," she said, reflecting on her 30th birthday. "But I feel so abundant. You can reinvent yourself a million times."
This served as the introduction to 'It Girl', which became the set's undisputed emotional peak. "This song is for my mamma," she said, gesturing toward where her family stood watching. "Thanks to my mum for giving birth to me." On a night defined by grotesque theatricality, seeing Ash visibly nervous to sing 'It Girl' - confessing to the crowd that she needed them to sing along because she was too overwhelmed to carry it alone. It wasn't just Ashnikko crying; the Smoochies followed suit, with tears visible across the front rows. The track itself - a decaying folk song that rejects the allure of external validation - felt like a sacred pact. "I am not a vessel for men to love themselves anymore," she sang, a line that ties the entire album into a single, defiant knot. It was a rare, grounded moment of real human love that proved Ashnikko’s most powerful "reinvention" isn't the hair, the props, or the costumes, but her refusal to be anything other than exactly who she is. To see her celebrated by her family while 5,000 strangers screamed the lyrics of 'It Girl' back was nothing short of magical.
By the time we hit the hardstyle pulse of 'I Want My Boyfriends to Kiss', the room was a strobe-lit riot. Despite admitting their "human skin suit was too tight" and performing with a "booger up her nose" during 'Tantrum', their stage presence was unwavering. The night ended in a flurry of high-energy anthems: the moon-lit sensuality of 'Liquid', the TikTok sensations 'Slumber Party', and the inevitable closing of 'Daisy'.
Ashnikko is at her most formidable when she is at her most unhinged. By pouring her own capital and radical artistic freedom into this fever dream, she engineered a sanctuary where "too much" becomes the bare minimum.
She is the priestess, the demidevil, proving that even if you are just the "purse sediment" the world tries to shake out, there is a jagged, vital power in your existence. In an industry built on being palatable, Ashnikko chose to be an exorcism. She didn't just give us a concert; she gave us a permission slip to be messy, grotesque, and unapologetically free.
Words by Vlad-Paul Ghilaș
Photos by Florelle Servageon