FLO Impresses With ‘Access All Areas’ New York Tour Stop: Show Review

Who said girl groups are dead?

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Though it’s been several years since an R&B girl group has made a significant splash in the States, British trio FLO cemented itself as the progeny of iconic girl groups past across an excellent hour-and-a-half set at the Brooklyn Paramount on Monday night (April 21). Marking the first of two New York stops on their Access All Areas Tour, the FLO girls also spent the night outlining their own origin story — with Emmy, Grammy and Tony-winning multihyphenate Cynthia Erivo narrating the setlist like a whimsical fairy godmother.

Before Stella, Jorja and Renée took the stage, rising R&B singer Chxrry put on a fiery one-woman show for her opening set. Owning the stage with just a mic stand, a few standard lighting cues and backing track, Chxrry delivered incredibly strong vocals as she played songs across her catalog. From “Just Like Me” to “Favorite Girl,” Chxrry’s set familiarized the crowd with her work while showing off her performance chops across a range of tempos. “Never Had This” proved the highlight of her set: By matching sultry floor choreography and Beyoncé-esque hairography to the seductive, brooding production, Chxrry captivated the venue all by herself. Before ceding the stage to FLO, Chxrry delivered her a winning rendition of her biggest hit yet, “Poppin Out (Mistakes).” (R&B singer Josh Levi opened Tuesday night’s show on April 22.)

After the house DJ spun a few R&B classics (SWV’s “Weak,” Fantasia’s “When I See U”), Erivo’s voice rang out across the venue prompting several concertgoers to gasp some variation of, “It’s Elphaba!” “Ladies and gentlemen/ And those who do not subscribe to either/ Generously granting us access to all areas/ Miss Jorja, Miss Renée, Miss Stella/ This is FLO,” Erivo announced, slightly remixing the “Intro” she voiced on the group’s Access All Areas LP, which arrived late last year (Nov. 15, 2024). From there the girls launched into the first act of their set, tearing through “AAA,” Access All Areas singles “Walk Like This” and “Check,” and their Missy Elliott-assisted bop “Fly Girl.”

With a relatively bare stage that consisted mostly of a staired platform leading to three separate doorways for each member (and mic stands that disappeared and reappeard throughout the show), FLO delivered a notably physical stage show. In addition to their otherworldly live vocals — their arrangements frequently added modulations and they often improvised slinkier riffs and more ambitious belts than the ones already on the album — the girls rarely stood still, always covering ground on stage through a mixture of dance breaks and light choreography that rejected stasis while ensuring the stability they needed to hit some of those jaw-dropping notes. Amari Marshall, a renowned choreographer who served as dance co-captain on Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour, worked closely with the trio for the Access All Areas Tour. Between the girls’ crisp synchronization and smart individualization of certain parts, Marshall was clearly a very effective coach. For “Bending My Rules” — an early vocal highlight among many — the girls brought out some prop wine glasses to set the mood, before launching into a spunky run of tracks (“IWH2BMX,” “Nocturnal,” and “How Does It Feel?”) that flaunted their sassier side.

Before the trio launched into some sexy choreography for “Soft” (still unclear if Brooklyn passed the mute challenge!) and “On & On,” ascendant R&B crooner Destin Conrad surprised the Brooklyn Paramount with a strong performance of “In the Air.” Shortly after, Erivo once again returned as narrator, explicitly placing FLO in the lineage of Destiny’s Child, Sugababes, SWV and “countless other iconic baddies of the past” by once again lifting bits of the Access All Areas intro.

For their final act, FLO momentarily departed from Access All Areas — ultimately playing all sixteen tracks from the album’s standard edition — and performed a couple of hits from earlier in their catalog. While the “In My Bag” hook and music video choreographer drew a hearty crowd response, the spruced-up arrangement of breakout debut single “Cardboard Box” made most of the venue lose their minds. Nonetheless, the indisputable highlight of the night came in the form of “Losing You,” a soulful ballad the trio released as a standalone single in 2022. With an arrangement that seemed to reach a new vocal peak with each new line, “Losing You” allowed each member one final moment to show off the most impressive parts of their respective voices — from Renée’s gorgeous lower reigster to Stella’s limitless upper range and Jorja’s incredibly powerful chest voice. Always keeping the focus on Access All Areas, the girls properly closed the show with an encore of “I’m Just A Girl” that found them putting on their best rockstar performances — head-banging, guitar-miming and all.

If FLO has anything to say about it, girl groups are certainly alive and well — and R&B is too.