Sophie Ellis-Bextor
w/ Holiday Sidewinder, DJ FADJ
Ice Cream Factory
Thursday, February 12 2026
The current poster girl for pop career comebacks, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, returned to Perth for what was, very surprisingly, her first headline performance in the city ever. The previous and only time she had been here before was as support for Take That, eighteen months ago. For a career that had so far spanned a quarter-century, it was quite the omission, and one which was gloriously rectified tonight.
But first, the evening had local talent DJ FADJ spinning the decks as the opening support slot. Clearly having taken inspiration and notes from her headline act, FADJ injected the preferred genre and era, disco-pop of the 2000s, directly into the veins of the early attendees. The set navigated extremely well between chill, classic, camp, and cringe, never quite falling into the latter category, no matter how much the material tap-danced on its edge.
As FADJ stretched well past the hour mark, despite much of the chosen music being frothy and not too deep, the performance turned into almost a muscular display of endurance, a pop marathon rather than a sprint—though a very fun and relaxed version of such.
Sydney-born, now UK-based Holiday Sidewinder then stepped up to the plate, having toured with Ellis-Bextor six times, including the entirety of the current Australian swing. After saluting Sophie as her queen, Sidewinder swaggered across the stage and back, through an array of her rugged indie-pop compositions. With an infectious energy and a catalogue seemingly accented with traces of Ladyhawke, Grimes, and even Hayley Williams, Sidewinder did a fantastic job of raising the energy levels as the crowd began to swell.
A twenty-minute break, then the band darkly silhouetted against the rear video screen, before Sophie Ellis-Bextor strode confidently stage centre to the delighted applause of her Perth fans. Luminous under the lighting, in a gorgeous magenta ensemble, Ellis-Bextor launched directly into Relentless Love, the lush opener from last year’s eighth studio album, Perimenopop.
After a diversion through her first classic hit of the evening, Take Me Home, Ellis-Bextor began what would become a long-running conversation with the audience, an artist much chattier than usually expected at concerts. Ellis-Bextor repurposed Perth’s City of Light designation, from astronauts overhead to rather the amount of glitter and sequins amongst tonight’s fans, before she related exploring Fremantle’s vintage stores earlier in the day.
The setlist had been fairly settled across the tour so far, but there was built-in spontaneity of a sort, as Ellis-Bextor pulled two surprise songs over the night via a Jeopardy-style video board. One of these was for an extra track specifically from Perimenopop, while the second landed on “Sophie’s Choice”, with which Ellis-Bextor picked Move This Mountain, premised with a lovely story about how she met her husband, Richard Jones, on stage on bass tonight, during the recording of her breakthrough album Read My Lips.
A quick break off-stage for a costume change was covered by an extended instrumental by the band, and Ellis-Bextor returned in a stunning, pink-fringed silver leotard that both shimmered like a disco ball and burst with colour like a bird of paradise. The piece was hypnotic for long stretches of time, even during the more energetic or familiar of her subsequent songs.
Being the high-energy pop concert that this was, at times the stage was super busy with lighting, video effects, and the band using the full space afforded to them. However, all the noise that ensued never took away from the core of the night, Ellis-Bextor herself. No matter what else was happening, the spotlight rarely broke from her, and she absolutely revelled in it.
As if a shepherd directing her flock, an orchestral conductor with the shiniest coat and tails, or a marching band leader lacking only a baton, Ellis-Bextor strutted, danced, and high-kicked her way across the evening, almost an indefatigable Energiser Bunny to her art.
When recording the latest album, she had pondered how the industry was often unkind to women in their forties who continued to make music, and those thoughts in turn took her back to the beginnings of her career. At the very heart of these musings was the fact that, for Ellis-Bextor, disco pop is such a tonic—as it seemed for much of tonight’s audience.
The wonderful thing about the newest Perimenopop tracks was how seamlessly they fitted in with Ellis-Bextor’s classic works, as there had been no discernible dip in energy, quality, or style between old and new.
Ellis-Bextor paid tribute to The Elders with fabulous covers of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love and ABBA’s Gimme, Gimme, Gimme—the latter of which was part of a multi-song medley that drifted in, out, and around her own breakout hit Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love). Suddenly it was both 1977 and 2000 at the same time, all over again, led by a literal dancing queen, with an audience that ate it all up with grand enthusiasm.
Ellis-Bextor teased the Perth crowd by hinting she was so happy in the moment and the audience had been so adorable that she may want to move here—but then she grounded the evening back to reality by stating we only had tonight, so we best make the most of it.
“Do with it what you will,” Ellis-Bextor triumphantly declared as Murder on the Dancefloor began—seemingly a singer who still adores their biggest song. Again, the years were stripped back, for some to 2001, for others to Saltburn, and all enjoyed their respective memories as they danced. One final high kick, a bow from the band, and the main set had ended.
The night fully concluded out in the audience, with Ellis-Bextor and a single guitar; the crowd hushed to near silence for an acoustic take on Don’t Know What You’ve Got Til It’s Gone, which could easily be read as a summation of an entire career. As the concert had begun with the first track of Perimenopop, so had it ended with the last song from the selfsame album. A clear statement from the artist about how proud she is of the work.
A magnificent evening spent with someone clearly thankful for what her music journey has given her, from the art to her collaborators to her fans, this was also a highly entertaining concert expertly bathed in pop and disco sensibilities. From the fun, frothy tunes to the deeper stories that Ellis-Bextor shared, this was a joyous event one could not help but smile along to.