The Neighbourhood at OVO Arena
The Neighbourhood at OVO Arena Wembley, London — 2026-09-05
The Neighbourhood have been around for more than a decade, but looking around OVO Arena Wembley, the audience skewed noticeably younger than the band’s history might suggest.
The Neighbourhood have been around for more than a decade, but looking around OVO Arena Wembley, the audience skewed noticeably younger than the band’s history might suggest.
There were plenty of teenage and twenty-something fans, alongside older listeners who have been following the band since their early years. The Neighbourhood have gone through their own changes since forming, including a break that began in 2021, before returning in 2024 with new music. Now they are back on the road with their Wourld Tour, bringing a three-act production to Wembley.
Before the band appeared, a robotic female voice called Iris addressed the arena. The Siri-like voice is used throughout the show, introducing the different acts and speaking directly to the audience. It is an unusual way to structure a concert, but fits with the deliberately constructed world of the Wourld Tour. Rather than simply moving from one song to the next, the set is broken into three sections, with Iris helping to move the show between them.
Jesse Rutherford is not a particularly conventional frontman. He spends much of the performance moving around the stage, breaking into strange little dances and turning his back on the crowd at seemingly random moments. A tambourine appears repeatedly, sometimes becoming almost as much a part of the performance as the songs themselves, while he also plays bongos during the set. There is very little of the standard frontman routine. Rutherford seems happy to move around in ways that are sometimes genuinely odd, which gives the performance its own character.
Act I opens with “Hula Girl”, followed by “OMG”, “Cry Baby”, “Reflections”, “Void”, “R.I.P. 2 My Youth” and “Zombie”. Act II moves through “Lovebomb”, “A Little Death”, “Afraid”, “You Get Me So High”, “Fallen Star”, “Nervous”, “Planet”, “Wish You Were Mine” and “Devil’s Advocate”. The final section brings “Valentines”, “Baby Came Home 2”, “The Beach”, “Chip Chrome” and “Pretty Boy” before “Cherry Flavoured”.
By the time “Daddy Issues” arrived, the audience was doing much of the work. Phones were in the air, people were shouting every word and there was a familiarity with the material that only comes from having lived with these songs for a long time.
That was probably the most interesting part of the night for me. I am not particularly invested in The Neighbourhood, so I was more interested in watching the people who were. Songs I might have heard in passing clearly meant something very different to the people around me. “Sweater Weather” produced one of the biggest reactions of the night, despite being released back in 2012.
Musically, the band’s mix of alternative rock, pop, R&B and electronic elements is polished and atmospheric. That sound is consistent across much of the set, which worked for some of the audience more than it did for me. Without the same connection to the songs, some of the tracks began to occupy a similar space, although Rutherford’s performance and the production around him kept the show visually busy.
The Wourld Tour is clearly designed as more than a straightforward run through the band’s catalogue. The three-act structure, Iris’s announcements and the visual presentation give the set a defined shape, while Rutherford’s loose approach to performing provides a contrast to the precision around him.
The band’s break and subsequent return add another chapter to their history, but there was little sense of the show being built around nostalgia. Older songs sat alongside newer material without being treated as separate parts of the band’s story.
The Neighbourhood may not be entirely my thing, but there was no questioning the connection between the band and the people in the room. The response throughout the night belonged to a crowd who knew exactly why they were there.
Setlist
Hula Girl / OMG / Cry Baby / Reflections / Void / R.I.P. 2 My Youth / Zombie / Lovebomb / A Little Death / Afraid / You Get Me So High / Fallen Star / Nervous / Planet / Wish You Were Mine / Devil’s Advocate / Valentines / Baby Came Home 2 / The Beach / Chip Chrome / Pretty Boy / Cherry Flavoured / Daddy Issues / Private / Sweater Weather / Softcore / Red Flag