O2 Academy Brixton is already fizzing before Ashton Nicole Casey – better known as Ashnikko – even sets foot onstage. Glittered cowboys, latex-clad fairies, homemade crowns and friendship bracelets fill the room; strangers swap trinkets like sacred offerings. It doesn’t feel like a queue for a gig — it feels like entry to a parallel universe. Tonight is the first of two Brixton shows, and from the moment the lights drop, it’s clear we are no longer in South London.
Ashnikko @ O2 Academy Brixton
A voiceover begins. Ashnikko rummages through her handbag for lip gloss and club essentials, only to discover something far more interesting: a tiny door. When it creaks open at the back of the stage, she and her dancers squeeze through it cartoon-style, emerging into “Smoochie World” — a hyper-saturated fever dream of pinks, props and playful menace. The set design is part funhouse, part feminist cabaret: oversized signage, warped glamour, a looming papier-mâché head and that now-iconic miniature portal waiting to swallow us whole again.
Sticky Fingers detonates the night with industrial sparkle, quickly followed by Working Bitch, delivered with theatrical relish from within a garish pink frame. The bass ricochets around Brixton as ‘Microplastics’ and ‘She’s So Pretty’ layer bratty hooks over pounding beats. Ashnikko’s choreography — sharp, athletic, knowingly absurd — pushes the energy into overdrive, her dancers matching her ferocity step for step.
There’s a mischievous looseness to this show. Lip Smacker and Trinkets become interactive rituals, fans hurling gifts onstage as part of the now-established exchange. A giant locket frames one moment, a deliberately tacky prop punctuates the next. It’s chaotic, but it’s controlled chaos — every joke, every grotesque flourish, carefully placed.
Mid-set, Skin Cleared lands as a glitter-coated purge, equal parts self-care anthem and exorcism. The emotional temperature spikes with Toxic/Invitation, the latter cutting through the theatrics with stark clarity. Ashnikko doesn’t soften the message; she delivers it bluntly, reclaiming space and agency in a room that roars its solidarity back at her.
From there, the show spirals gleefully. Chichinya is feral and ridiculous, Manners and STUPID resurrect earlier viral snarl, and Tantrum feels like a pressure valve exploding. The Halloweenie medley — spanning Seven Days, Innards, The Moss King and Possess Me — turns Brixton into a sweaty goth carnival, strobes slicing through the dark as the crowd jumps in unison.
WEEDKILLER remains a towering moment, its dystopian punch reasserting Ashnikko’s ability to weld hyperpop gloss to something heavier and more abrasive. Possession Of A Weapon and Wet Like keep the intensity high before Full Frontal tips the night fully into camp body-horror absurdity, complete with mock medical props and chants shaking the balcony.
“I want my boyfriends to kiss!” she commands, and Brixton obliges. ‘I Want My Boyfriends to Kiss’ is one of the loudest singalongs of the night — a queer manifesto wrapped in pure pop delirium. Liquid glistens with club-ready sensuality, while It Girl and Itty Bitty lean into maximalist mischief.
By the time Slumber Party hits, the floor feels elastic beneath hundreds of jumping bodies. And then, of course, there’s Daisy. The breakout anthem still bites, still struts, still feels like a declaration of independence screamed into the void. Confetti cannons erupt as Ashnikko stands centre stage, blue hair blazing under white light, conductor of her own deliciously unhinged universe.
What makes the spectacle cohere isn’t just the high-production surrealism or the weaponised sexuality — it’s the atmosphere of permission. In Smoochie World, excess is encouraged, queerness is celebrated and shame is left at the door (preferably the tiny one at the back of the stage). Brixton doesn’t just host a pop show tonight; it becomes a sanctuary rave disguised as a theatre production.
On the first of two nights at O2 Academy Brixton, Ashnikko doesn’t simply perform. She builds a world, invites us inside and hands us the glitter-covered keys.
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Ashnikko @ O2 Academy Brixton (Neil Lupin)
Photography of Ashnikko at O2 Academy Brixton, London on 19th February 2026 by by Neil Lupin / neillupin.com.
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