Live Review; Oklou, Ninajirachi and Vickie Cherie at Terminal 5

A Saturday night in New York City hums with a kind of electricity you can’t quite bottle, rooftops flicker to life, streets thrum with motion and the city’s restless energy carries on from dusk into something like dawn. At Terminal 5, that pulse sharpens into something more industrial, raw, immediate. The warehouse expanse, dim lighting and tightly packed floors mirror the city’s relentless rhythm. Inside, hundreds gather for Oklou’s Choke Enough Tour, a young crowd dressed in casually elevated layers, their style leaning toward the alternative, the understated, the intentional.

At 8 p.m., Vickie Cherie opens the night, moving behind a scrim-lit screen that breathes with her visuals, ethereal skies, stark black-and-white eyes, birds gliding over an endless sea. It feels like a quiet exhale before the swell, a soft beginning as the venue slowly fills. When she finishes, she thanks the audience and gently announces her departure from the tour, a moment that lands with a quiet poignancy.

By 8:30, Ninajirachi takes the stage and the energy shifts. The Australian DJ moves with unfiltered joy: dancing, smiling, jumping behind her deck. Hyperpop textures ripple through her opening track, pulling the audience forward. Glowing wires snake across her setup, changing color as if alive. The crowd sings along to tracks featuring The Frost Children and Underscores, their voices blending into the beat. Even after she steps offstage, her energy lingers, suspended in the room.

At 9:30, Oklou begins. A white sheet drapes an elevated stage, a swing suspended above it, minimal, deliberate, quietly evocative of Choke Enough. Flanked by a guitarist and keyboardist, she opens with “Ict,” the stage awash in deep blue, their figures reduced to silhouettes. A repeating trio of keys pulses outward, joined by the unexpected glow of a red recorder in her hands.

“thank you for recording” follows, greeted by a surge of recognition from the crowd, something beloved, familiar. Cool blue light returns, softened by pale white accents. “obvious” arrives next, introduced by Oklou as one of her personal favorites, and the audience answers with equal affection. Between songs, she speaks with an easy sincerity, thanking the crowd, introducing her bandmates, sharing that this is her final night of the tour. The room responds with warmth, a collective lift of support.

The set unfolds with an unhurried grace. “plague dogs” drifts into “take me by the hand” where Casey MQ (keyboardist) steps in for Bladee’s verse, the audience filling in the rest. Oklou moves gently across the stage, her presence open, unforced. Nothing feels rushed; nothing feels overly precise. Instead, there’s a softness to it all, a sense of ease. “endless” deepens that feeling, its oceanic tones setting off a quiet wave of swaying bodies.

Midway through, she reaches back to Galore with “galore,” a simple love song that lands like a memory. “family and friends” flows into “harvest sky” featuring Underscores as the crowd lifts glowing, color-shifting cups, each filled with the venue’s namesake cocktail. Though Underscores isn’t present, their presence is felt, threaded through both Ninajirachi and Oklou’s sets.

“god’s chariot” brings a brighter pulse, but the night’s peak energy arrives with “dance 2.” At her urging, “dance!” the beat drops and the room obliges, bodies moving in unison. The final stretch, “viscus,” “fall,” “choke enough” and “want to wanna come back,” carries the night toward its close before “blade bird” lands softly, acoustic and heartfelt, like a final breath.

There are moments that linger: Oklou perched at the edge of the stage with a toy-sized keyboard; the “love cam,” where she carries a phone through the crowd, its live feed mirrored behind her; the glow of “harvest sky”; the quiet sway of the suspended swing.

In the end, it’s the simplicity that resonates most. Oklou’s voice, light, almost otherworldly, paired with a small band, restrained visuals and a deep trust in the music itself, creates something immersive and whole. For a night in a city that never stops moving, she offers something rare: a space to feel suspended within it.

Oklou Setlist

1. “ict”
2. “thank you for recording”
3. “obvious”
4. “plague dogs”
5. “take me by the hand”
6. “endless”
7. “galore”
8. “The Make Believe” (Casey MQ cover)
9. “family and friends”
10. “harvest sky”
11. “god’s chariot”
12. “dance 2”
13. “viscus”
14. “What’s Good” (Avril23 cover)
15. “fall” (A.G. Cook Remix)
16. “choke enough”
17. “want to wanna come back”
18. “blade bird”