Review | FLO at Manchester Academy – three fly girls and a cardboard box full of hits

UK girl group FLO visited Manchester Academy yesterday and let the crowd ‘Access All Areas’ of their discography on their tour of the same name.

Jorja, Stella and Renée, more widely recognised as R&B girl group FLO, had Manchester in awe, treating the crowd to a night of silky vocals, stylish choreography and expert harmonising.

After visiting New Century Hall in 2023, Gorilla in 2024 and Parklife twice, the latest being earlier this summer – this time they’re setting ‘The Mood’ in Manchester Academy.

As the show begins, the trio pop out one by one and poses in a way that harks back to cult classic action film Charlie’s Angels, with the girls only visible by their silhouettes.

The song soundtracking this initial greeting is none other than the Cynthia Erivo-narrated ‘AAA’, which gives each member their own individual time to shine.

This girl group are ready to show off their musical skills in full force.

Next is the sassy and playful ‘Walk Like This’ which has the Manchester Academy crowd strutting their stuff while chanting “There’s a reason I walk like this / Side to side with a sway in my hip.”

‘Check’, which clocks in at just under three minutes, sees the girls ticking off some important relationship traits: “Is he loyal? Check / He spoil you? Check”; “Is he faithful? Check / Gentleman? Check.”

This fun-filled single keeps the vibes at a high with the girls finishing each chorus admitting, “The way I trust him, I ain’t gotta check”, while giving each other a smile or two.

The gospel influenced ‘Bending My Rules’ was nothing short of religious. FLO made sure to take us to church for four minutes with their vocal runs, belts and stellar harmonies.

Following this is a number of much-loved album tracks like ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’, ‘Get It Till I’m Gone’ and the confident ‘How Does It Feel?’ which all go down a treat and show the girls in their elements or as they’d phrase it…  in their bags.

As soon as the trumpet-heavy instrumental for ‘In My Bag’ plays out, the audience self-appoints themselves the role of US rapper GloRilla, making sure to recite her flow bar for bar – “On gang, gang”.

During this track, the girl group brought their A-game, recreating the choreography from this song’s music video with the audience acting as their hype men  – it’s safe to say, it wasn’t just the girl group lapping up this moment; everyone was in their bag.

As Stella blurts “I got a confession”, the opening line to the band’s debut single ‘Cardboard Box’, there’s a flurry of screams from the crowd for this fan favourite.

Performing this penultimately really gave fans, such as myself, the time to process the journey these three have been on in the past five years and also to come to terms with the fact that the show was almost over.  

The introduction to ‘I’m Just a Girl’ plays out, and in that moment, it’s safe to say no one could name a better closing song, as this encapsulates the band’s feelings towards the industry they’re working in.

Lyrics like “What’s a girl got to do to be seen?” and “How many black girls do you see on centre stage now?” reinforce the harsh realities this girl group have had to face and how they’re slowly inserting themselves in mainstream conversations.

Although this rock-twanged R&B hit might not be the perfect fairytale ending, the fact that over 2,000 fans have shown up and shown out for FLO’s Manchester gig is.

Their fanbase isn’t leaving anytime soon, and last night was a prime example.

Read more:

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• Former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson is heading to Manchester on a new world tour
• Lola Young cancels all upcoming shows after collapsing on stage

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Featured Images – The Manc Group