As anyone who watched Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl extravaganza or Katy Perry’s Grammy performance knows, setting out to get political at a live music show is a bit risky. That’s especially true now, when protest is on everyone’s mind and anything seemingly facile or flaccid in this department chances adding to ongoing frustrations. Enter Charli XCX, who took the NME Awards show stage in London last night with a bevy of British musicians to rip into a very good cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.†Their performance was backdropped by a plea to donate to the U.K. refugee charity Help Refugees via text, and all assembled wore “Choose Love†shirts in support of the cause. And now you have a new taste of Charli XCX to hold you over until her album release in May.
