Review: Kesha has a wardrobe malfunction in Charlotte. That figures, doesn’t it?
There was — as much as this is possible — something vaguely Taylor Swift-like about Kesha’s performance at PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte on Tuesday night.
For about seven minutes, at least.
The 38-year-old blond pop star, celebrating contractual freedom from a toxic business relationship with her longtime producer, sat cross-legged atop a raised platform wearing a silver party hat and clutching a matching electric guitar.
“I love you, Charlotte. Thank you for being with me throughout every chapter of my life. And thank you for letting me make art to exorcise this s--- out of my body,” Kesha said, making one of several in-show references to the ugly “Kesha v. Dr. Luke” lawsuits (she alleged he abused her in a variety of ways, he accused her of defamation and breach of contract) that nearly derailed her career, not to mention her life. “Thank you. I love you. Thank you.”
With that, the crowd of 18,000 or so gathered on the coolest night in Charlotte in months roared, and for the next 90 seconds it didn’t let up. She giggled. She blushed. She giggled again, looking nervous, blushed again, looking awestruck.
But then she rested her chin on her hand, smiled coyly, and giggled some more. The standing ovation continued.
Finally, after proclaiming that she’s “never been happier in my entire life,” Kesha strummed her guitar and sang a stripped-down, strikingly poignant rendition of “Happy,” a deep cut off her 2023 “Gag Order” album. She was one of the few at the amphitheater not standing, and one of the few not holding a cellphone with its flashlight turned on.
Taylor would have been proud.
Then those seven minutes were over, so it was straight on back to ... — well, the tour is called “T-ts Out” (which she said during the show means that “you just are sick of giving a f--- what anybody thinks”). And if you figured someone like Kesha might take that quite literally, you’d be absolutely right.
In fact, some were out long before the “TiK ToK” star stepped onto the stage.
Scissor Sisters’ first show ever in Charlotte
Set-up act Scissor Sisters — the reunited pop-rock outfit playing Charlotte for the first time — had the benefit of an effervescent frontman in Jake Shears; but it also had a pair of bawdy, scene-stealing backing singers in Amber Martin and Bridget Barkan.
The latter, a red-headed New Yorker wearing white platform boots, adhered to the theme early.
“I was taught to not be afraid to show a little skin,” Barkan purred, two songs into the group’s 12-song set, before pulling down the top of her dress to reveal (you knew this was coming) her left breast, which sported a large pastie bearing the Sisters’ scissor logo. Next song? “T-ts on the Radio,” a funky cut with a throbbing bassline, from their self-titled debut album from 2004.
Later, as another track from that record kicked up, stagehands inflated two giant orbs designed to look like (you knew this was coming, too) breasts; then those stagehands turned into puppeteers — hiding behind the orbs, making them bob and weave during “Filthy/Gorgeous.”
It was, admittedly, a lot. But putting all of that gratuitousness aside for a moment ...
It’s worth noting that the freewheeling vibe emanating from Shears paired with the hilariously hammy theatrics of Martin and Barkan did generally click, in a way that felt kind of like a wacky but warm hug. On top of that, their songs did generally come off as infectious and original, from a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” re-arranged to sound like a Bee Gees tune to a rollicking performance of jaunty rocker “Take Your Mama” that the band mashed up cleverly with George Michael’s anthem “Freedom! ’90.”
You could not, however, put the gratuitousness aside for long ...
Because there was Shears wearing overalls decorated with all manner of colorful phallic symbolism; and there was Martin bellowing, “I’m wearing my mama’s G-string tonight — have a look!,” as she, um, gave fans a look.
There too at the show’s climax was Barkan, pulling her top down all the way this time and giving her torso a vigorous shake.
And with that, it was time to get ready for Kesha — who was, unsurprisingly, not to be outdone.
For ‘TiK ToK,’ fame goes to Kesha’s head
After the lights went down a few minutes past 9 p.m., she appeared on stage holding her head in her hands, although perhaps not in the way you might imagine: In this case, Kesha literally clutched a (fairly life-like) disembodied re-creation of her head circa-2010, complete with dirty blond hair and her then-trademark black-and-blue-eyeliner cascading down from her right eye.
Eerie prop in hand, she launched right into the biggest hit she’s ever had, “TiK ToK,” conspicuously sneering as she skipped her once-iconic but now-ironic “feeling like P. Diddy” lyric at the top of the song.
Kesha ditched said head quickly after that, and before long made a lively lap around the outer perimeter of the front sections — on her own two feet at first, then perched on the shoulders of one of her four male backup dancers — high-fiving fans as she blitzed through snippets of “Crazy Kids,” “C’Mon,” “Gold Trans Am” and “Thinking of You.”
She seemed to hardly be able to contain her excitement about her first major tour since settling her messy dispute with Dr. Luke in 2023.
“I had these songs taken from me,” Kesha exclaimed. “But I wrote them, and I wrote them for you!”
Meanwhile, she also seemed to hardly be able to contain her chest.
I mean, if there was going to be a wardrobe malfunction, a good bet was always going to be that it would involve the outfit featuring an underbust corset and two giant, platinum-bedazzled hands made to appear to belong to someone cradling her breasts from behind — and affixed to a skin-tight, flesh-colored top.
Not affixed quite well enough, though.
Kesha survives a wardrobe malfunction
After bouncing up and down through “Timber,” the 2013 hit she made with rapper Pitbull, Kesha noticed the right “hand” was coming off of her top. “One of my t-----s is trying to be literally t-ts out,” she quipped, as the crowd erupted. “I’m f------ Kesha, what do you expect?”
She played it cool as one of her two female dancers fetched a safety pin, but objected when her A/V team cut the video feed from the side screens.
“You don’t have to take me off the big Jumbotron!” Kesha exclaimed, with amusement. A few seconds later, the singer and those giant hands — one still not quite doing its job — were back on full display. A few seconds after that, the dancer was back and the problem was solved.
It was actually kind of refreshing to see the headliner go off-script on a night that was otherwise fairly heavily scripted. In fact, for better or worse, the show was a bit of a throwback to 2000s-era Britney Spears shows with its headset mics, bump-and-grind choreography, and heavy reliance on prerecorded music and backing vocals (though there was a drummer and a guitarist/bassist accompanying her for about half the show).
Kesha also kept hammering home the “I’m freeeee!” message with banter like this, used to set up new song “THE ONE.”: “Since I was a little girl, I feel like I was always taught to be looking for my missing piece, my other half, like, the one who’s gonna complete me. ... And then I ... started realizing ... I am my own sugar daddy. I am my own love of my life.”
But frankly, despite repeatedly and emphatically baring her soul in Charlotte, she’ll likely be most remembered here for baring her bosom — which she did (under cover of pasties) upon ripping open her T-shirt as confetti spewed from cannons in the finale.
Given what she named the tour, you’ve gotta figure that’s just fine with Kesha.
Kesha’s setlist
1. “TiK ToK”
2. “Only Love Can Save Us Now”
3. “Warrior”
4. “Crazy Kids”
5. “C’Mon”
6. “Gold Trans Am”
7. “Thinking of You”
8. “Sleazy”
9. “BOY CRAZY.”
10. “Cannibal”
11. “DELUSIONAL.”
12. “Take It Off”
13. “Blow”
14. “The Drama”
15. “Fine Line”
16. “Happy”
17. “Eat the Acid”
18. “FREEDOM.”
19. “ATTENTION!”
20. “JOYRIDE.”
21. “YIPPEE-KI-YAY.”
22. “Timber”
23. “RED FLAG.”
24. “THE ONE.”
25. “Die Young”
Encore:
26. “CATHEDRAL.”
27. “Praying”
28. “Your Love Is My Drug”
29. “We R Who We R”
Scissor Sisters’ setlist
1. “Laura”
2. “She’s My Man”
3. “T-ts on the Radio”
4. “I Can’t Decide”
5. “Take Your Mama” / “Freedom! ’90”
6. “Running Out”
7. “Any Which Way”
8. “Comfortably Numb” (Pink Floyd cover)
9. “Let’s Have a Kiki”
10. “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’”
11. “Filthy/Gorgeous”
12. “Music Is the Victim”
This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 11:35 AM.
