Mean Girls star Reneé Rapp wows capacity crowd at Birmingham's O2 Academy

Sometimes hype from social media apps like TikTok is hard to translate into live performances.

That is absolutely not the case with Reneé Rapp, who wowed a capacity crowd at the O2 Academy in Birmingham this week.

Rapp rose to fame thanks to her role as Regina George in the Broadway musical version of Mean Girls, reprising that role in the 2024 remake of the film.

Yet it was her appearance on Saturday Night Live in January 2024 which truly ignited her fame and has propelled her on the way to superstardom.

Her 17-strong set on Wednesday night included tracks from both her 2022 EP Everything to Everyone as well as 2023 debut album Snow Angel.

First up in support was British-Filipino singer-songwriter Towa Bird, who got the crowd jumping with lesbian anthem Drain Me! along with a raucous cover of Blur’s Song 2.

She was followed by young Leicestershire-born singer Sekou who showcased his deep and soulful sound with a set including latest single Crying as well as a crowd-pleasing singalong cover of Adele song Someone Like You.

The crowd noise went up several decibels with the arrival on stage of Rapp, who began her set with Talk Too Much and Poison Poison from her latest album.

There are gigs when fans sing along to their favourite songs, but it was evident from the beginning that this crowd wanted to sing every single song with Rapp.

Rapp showed another facet of her popularity during the first break in the set, accepting the offer of a FaceTime call with a fan not at the concert only for the call to fail and Rapp to humorously claim that she was unsure this person even existed.

The variety of the set showed Rapp’s song-writing sensibilities, from the gentle and soulful Willow and Bruises, to the more upbeat Swim and Colorado.

There runs a clear defiant theme of self-respect and identity in the songs Rapp sings and this was reflected by the crowd, who threw a lesbian pride flag onto the stage for Rapp to hold during Pretty Girls.

Rapp was joined on stage by Towa Bird playing guitar for Tummy Hurts and I Hate Boston before playing a stripped-down version of The Cranberries classic Linger.

Sadly, this song was punctuated by the first of what was to be two stoppages due to someone in the crowd fainting as the heat and sheer density of people took its toll.

Rapp rounded off her set with a run of songs including Not My Fault from the Mean Girls soundtrack, the haunting I Wish and album title track Snow Angel.

The intensity of the crowd is testimony to how high Rapp’s star is rising. It seems almost certain that Rapp’s next tour will be arenas – and make no mistake, on her current career trajectory Rapp will sell them out with ease.

You can view a gallery of photos from last night here.

Reneé Rapp played:

Talk Too Much

Poison Poison

Willow

Bruises

Swim

Colorado

Pretty Girls

23

Tummy Hurts

I Hate Boston

Linger

Not My Fault

Gemini Moon

The Wedding Song

I Wish

In The Kitchen

Snow Angel