By Mary-Kate Ross

After seven years, Lily Allen made her long-awaited return to touring with her controversial and critically acclaimed new album ‘West End Girl’.

The 11-date long theatre tour kicked off in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Monday 2nd of March.

When the tour was announced, fans were left wondering if Lily would be performing her older hits such as ‘Smile' and ‘LDN’.

Allen confirmed that she would just be performing West End Girl in its entirety with no encore but that fans need to arrive to the concert early for a surprise.

The surprise was the opening act of three cellists called ‘The Dallas Minor Trio’, who played some of Lily’s hits instrumentally with lyrics projected on the background encouraging fans to sing along.

While it did feel like I was in back in school doing song practice, I did think it was a good touch to acknowledge Allen’s hits and have fans sing along.

When Lily came on, she appeared from behind a teal curtain, standing on lit up velvet steps and went into the first track ‘West End Girl’.

Towards the end of the song Lily even included the infamous phone call with her ex-husband which prompted members of the audience to shout, ‘dump him’.

With that, it became obvious that some members of the audience could relate to what Allen went through with her ex-husband's infidelity as that is what West End Girl is themed around and felt they were understood.

Lily had no band playing with her and was on the stage alone with a backing track. With Allen being alone, stood on a beautiful stage that was the set of an apartment, it made me feel like I was watching a one woman show.

She went straight to each song, with a few costume and set changes. I felt the no interaction with the crowd made sense as the show tells the story of the album from Lily finding out her husband was cheating on her to the aftermath of their relationship falling apart.

The props and costumes were also well thought out too. One of the most memorable moments was during ‘Pussy Palace’ when Lily held up a Duane Reade bag that is mentioned in the song that confirmed the extent of her husband's affairs.

Lily also at one point wore a dress that was covered in the receipts of things her husband bought for other women.

Overall, I thought the concert had great storytelling and was executed well.

For Lily’s first time on the stage in over eight years, she really captivated the audience with the story of her album.

With her arena tour coming up in the Summer, I’m not sure if the intimate theatre show would translate to the likes of the Hydro but only time will tell.

Lily Allen Performs West End Girl Concert Review