Flo review – ultra-hyped new girl band still in search of personality

The dynasty of the British girl group has been having a crisis of succession. After Little Mix abdicated the throne there have been a string of claimants, but none have really been fit to wear the crown – except perhaps Flo.

Reared under the hothouse lights of a major label, the London pop-R&B trio have already been decorated with honours since their 2022 debut single: they won the Brits Rising Star award and are the first girl group to win the BBC’s Sound of… poll. With their sororal vibes and playful lyrics, they are more the people’s princesses than lofty queens, though tonight – their most high profile gig yet – is being framed as a coronation of sorts.

“It’s our headline show, guys,” Renée Downer beams, her excitement breaking past the group’s immaculate veneer: their smiles are lacquered, their hair groomed into kiss curls, their red ensembles the-same-but-different. “Did anyone get their nails done?” she teases, as her bandmate Stella Quaresma follows up: “Did anyone get a pedicure, get their hair did?”

It’s an impeccably rehearsed introduction to their 24-carat R&B anthem Fly Girl featuring their admirer Missy Elliott, and while this is their first tour, they perform as if it were a reflex: their melt-in-the-mouth harmonies are seemingly effortless; their languid choreography never misses a beat. They know the drill, perhaps all too well.

Their R&B tracks are precision-engineered to make you move, but the trio are instead met by phones as a show of fans’ appreciation; even their breakout hit Cardboard Box incites documentation rather than participation, which seems odd, given the number of enthusiastic dance routines to it on TikTok. The audience skews towards millennials thirsting for nostalgia and Flo are all too happy to fill their cups with an electric rendition of Jamelia’s 00s anthem Superstar, plus some classic chair-based choreography.

Flo tick all the boxes, but this extremely competent show feels a little like a form being filled out: there is an absence of attitude and individuality to their performance. The weight of expectation – the palpable need for a group such as Flo from fans and the industry alike – is however unfairly immense and tonight underlines their promise rather than delivering on it.