Live Review: Kim Gordon - O2 Shepherd's Bush, London 14/04/2026
The legend of the art rock scene herself Kim Gordon delivers a rage against artificial intelligence and a celebration of self-identity at 02 Shepherd’s Bush, with excellent support from rising Brighton outfit Lonnie Gunn.
Most artists who have reached the level of fame that Kim Gordon has tend to play it safe; but the ex-Sonic Youth frontwoman has never been one to relieve past glories. Her solo career is illustrious, and the new chapter Play Me feels like an evolution of sorts further from what has come before, offering something completely different, new – a defying rallying cry about the refusal to be boxed in. At 72, she shows more creativity than most artists half her age.
Her opening act is Brighton heroes Lonnie Gunn, recently signed up to play at The Great Escape festival next month in May. The New Jersey native fronts a band full of talented musicians to play on what they acknowledge is the biggest night of their lives and their career so far – to play at an iconic venue like Shepherd’s pard’s Bush; supporting Kim Gordon – you believe their authentic and that they’re the real deal. Gunn herself has a cool, effortless charisma to her that makes her ascent to stardom almost inevitable in the same way artists like TTSSFU and Girl in the Year Above feel like the next big buzzy thing, that kind of confidence that screams “this is a star, right here” that support acts often lack.
Lonnie Gunn and the band feel like they belong on venues as big as this from the moment they step foot on it – “Lovebite” is an intoxicating single that draws in bedroom pop as a source of inspiration; a melancholic sense of dreamlike tendencies that feels nostalgic in parts. The new song: “Good Girls Get to Heaven”, gets a cheer from a largely young women-based audience that have turned up early, mixed in with the Radio 6 dad stalwarts probably old enough to have seen Sonic Youth when they were a band.
The adoring crowd pack out 02 Shepherd’s Bush long before Gordon herself shows up on stage so are really excited by the time she does. The last time Kim Gordon played in Shepherd’s Bush was 26 years ago – and she comes onto new single “PLAY ME” (everything on this album is stylised in all caps, whereas earlier work often isn’t) to raptous cheers. It’s a run through of the whole album pretty much – eleven tracks feature in a no-nonsense approach. It’s basically an album show; with bonus songs from The Collective mixed in throughout.
It’s a mixture of industrial dub and trap music which give it the edge and the unique blend of noise keeps it going – stripped back, intimate beyond the usual big flashy popstar show: aside from the visuals there isn’t much need for a big stage production, but this is a Kim Gordon show, you’re going for an icon of the art rock scene herself that has never stopped finding a way to reinvent and offer something new. “PLAY ME” is hip-hop, its catchy beats lulling the audience into a dance-y groove from the word go, and “GIRL WITH A LOOK” diverts into a no-wave gothic, almost Ethel Cain; almost Jehnny Beth approach of diverting rage and anger – it’s lazy enough to reference any alt-rock stars operating in this sphere because after all, where would they be without the genre’s godmother guiding the way in the first place? Gordon has also said she doesn’t listen to modern pop – so if anything, chances are high it’s Cain cribbing from Sonic Youth.
Her voice avoids the need for anything traditional and we’re seeing experimental in full swing here; effortlessly drifting between genres one song to the next.
It isn’t until the back half of the set that we get a transition from “PLAY ME” into The Collective, her 2024 album, but what comes before and her new record is pure gold, one of 2026’s finest works to date. To spend so much time in it is a real treasure: “BLACK OUT” is on all cylinders – and “NO HANDS” fills the air with tension; erratic and almost a commentary on the state of the nation in which she operates in – the wit is as clever as ever, and whilst the lyrics aren’t exactly subtle: one of Gordon’s recent remarks was that it was hard to talk about anything with subtly in this day and age – but the blunter edge of PLAY ME leans into a more formative, literal style and it almost seems too addictive to resist when played live. The minimalist stage presence lends to this blunter style: there’s no need for flashy showboating; the lyrics do all the talking for you.
Sticking to the Beth-esque vibes of the set the back-end sees the deployment of “I’m A Man” (both have collaborated on ECHOES before for ARTE in France), “it’s not my fault I was born a man // come on Zeus take my hand / jump on my back // ‘cause I’m a man” she has men place the blame on their failures for just being men; how they can simply just buy out of anything by just going ‘oh, I’m a man’, as though their gender is an excuse for their flaws. It’s powerful, provocative and a great way at drawing in the crowd; a trap beat that kind of flows at the edge of the world, offering a lengthy satire on the toxicity of the industry that grinds you in and spits you out again. It’s her view of the world through a toxic male – steeped in its muscular takedown of toxic masculinity. As songs go it’s my favourite of the night – and holds up just as much live as it does on record.
A 20 song set is more than most who use this big stage care to give us – “Trophies”, “It’s Dark Inside” and “Psychedelic Orgasm” come next – embracing the deadpan nature of it all wrapped up inside a trappier angle – and it almost feels like in itself it is the ghost of an entire pop genre: hard to pin down, never not exciting. It leans into touches of cyberpunk at times reflecting the world that we live in and the choices of the songs from The Collective aid the visuals and the themes of the piece: criticising AI, criticising those who view the body itself as evil – it’s an all guns blazing celebration of the artform and the freedom of expression and self-identity. A rage against the dying of the light – on “DIRTY TECH” she asks the audience how they’d react if their next boss was a robot – “terminatin’ with a steady hand”, maximising the pure brilliance of the synth-base that just growls and growls to peak live perfection.
Words by Miles Milton-Jefferies
