Bigger than Beyoncé? It wouldn't surprise us

Confidence Man on their zero rules policy, their hedonistic lifestyle and why they won't support Oasis

- JAMES HALL

It’s the biggest venue we’ve ever done,” says Janet Planet about Brixton Academy, where her band, Confidence Man, will perform two sold-out gigs this weekend. “I haven’t actually been yet. It’s very cool to go for the first time and play there.”

Her comments neatly sum up where the Australian quartet find themselves in late 2024. Their irresistibly euphoric dance music has earned them a reputation as one of the hottest live acts around. Their stage show is a riot of acrobatic dancing and eye-popping costumes, which invariably end up strewn on the floor. As relatively new London residents, Planet and her bandmates are still in wide-eyed, Tiggerish discovery mode about the city’s nocturnal haunts. Their most recent album 3AM (La La La) is a London-loving paean to Nineties British dance music. Brixton Academy, a key crucible of rave culture back then, could prove to be 3AM’s spiritual home.

Confidence Man are part of a new pop vanguard in which artifice and exuberance co-exist. They’re essentially the clubbing branch of the Brat phenomenon spawned by Charli XCX, a lifestyle defined by hedonism, messy empowerment and imperfect defiance. There’s a thrilling element of unpredictability to their shows. At one point Planet and male co-singer Sugar Bones fall backwards onto a concealed mattress. Injuries aren’t uncommon and flips will go wrong (“It would be great if we died on stage,” says Planet). But mistakes don’t matter. Their attitude is almost punk. “We’d never be able to do ‘perfect’ anyway because we don’t have the skills. Sugar will fall off the stage and be covered in blood. Our goal has always been to be a little bit reckless,” says Planet. Post-Covid, people want visceral “real” experiences and not “pop princess perfection”, she adds.