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The xx play first of three sold-out Mexico City comeback gigs – their first in eight years

The xx, live. (Photo by Jim Bennett/FilmMagic)

The xx played their first gig in eight years last night (April 3) – check out footage, photos and the full setlist from the landmark show below.

  • READ MORE:  Romy on being back in the studio with The xx: “We’re up for trying new things but it sounds like us”

Earlier this year, the trio announced that their first show together since 2018 would be held at the Pepsi Center WTC in the Mexican capital, with festival appearances at Coachella and Primavera Sound already lined up for the summer.

At the time, the band described it as the start of a new chapter together, and said there was “no better place to return than in front of our Mexican fans.” It’s a message they reiterated last night, telling the crowd: “We talked a lot about where our reunion should be. The three of us said Mexico.”

Having opened with ‘Crystalised’, Romy, Oliver Sim, and Jamie xx delivered a series of fan favourites like ‘GMT, ‘Loud Places’, ‘Night Time’, ‘Sunset’, and ‘Infinity’, with fans rushing to social media to praise the trio’s energy and sound after the show.

“It had been a long time since I’d seen the audience so connected with a band, but The XX managed to get everyone dancing, shouting, and singing along to every song,” wrote one X user.

Nodding to their vote to hold the comeback show in Mexico, another added: “Today’s crowd is the perfect proof that they didn’t choose wrong, everyone singing every song at the top of their lungs, dancing, and having the best day of our lives.

“Those going tomorrow and the day after have no idea what’s in store for them…” Check out footage of the gig below.

The xx’s Mexico setlist was:

‘Crystalised’
‘Say Something Loving’
‘Islands’
‘Angels’
‘Fiction’
‘I’ll Take Care of U’ (Gil Scott‐Heron and Jamie xx cover)
‘Shelter’
‘VCR’
‘Loud Places’
‘GMT’
‘Enjoy Your Life’
‘Wanna’
‘Waited All Night / On Hold’
‘On Hold’
‘I Dare You
‘Intro’

Encore:
‘Night Time’
‘Play Video’
‘Sunset’
‘Play Video’
‘Infinity’

Last March, the band was spotted in the studio together, following  Jamie xx saying in 2024 that the trio were “having a good time” working on new material. After the Coachella line-up announcement in September last year, they shared some further rehearsal footage.

At last year’s LIDO Festival, which  Jamie xx headlined, he reunited onstage with bandmates Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim.

Since their most recent album, 2017’s ‘ I See You ‘, each of the three members has focused on their solo projects.  Romy released her debut album ‘Mid Air ‘ as Romy in 2023, which she’s followed with a run of singles, while Oliver Sim dropped his first solo LP, ‘ Hideous Bastard‘, the previous year, before putting out two singles last year.

Jamie xx’s second solo album, ‘In Waves‘, came out in 2024, and featured his bandmates on the song ‘Waited All Night’.

Speaking to  NME  about new music from The xx at the  BRIT Awards  2024, Romy revealed: “We’re just keeping it really open, and we’re up for trying new things, but it sounds like us. That’s all I can say right now.”

‘I See You’ was released in January 2017 and became their second Number One album in the UK, also hitting Number Two in the US.

NME gave the album a four-star review, writing: “the highlight is Romy’s pensive, vulnerable ballad ‘Performance’. “ I’ll put on a performance/I’ll ​​put on a brave face,” she confesses, accompanied by a single guitar and scurrying violins. ‘I See You’ is not simply an album then, but a moment of realisation. The moment when The xx stop glancing shyly at their reflection and confront themselves in the mirror. What they discover is “infectious.”

In November, meanwhile, they shared a deluxe version of their debut album, ‘xx’. They’re also involved in Rough Trade’s 50th anniversary celebrations, with the iconic record store and label sharing a series of 50 essential albums spanning the five decades, including one of The xx’s releases.

The post The xx play first of three sold-out Mexico City comeback gigs – their first in eight years appeared first on NME.