If you’ve never been to an Ashnikko concert, well, it’s more than just a straight-up musical performance.
The brash, blue-haired alternative pop singer puts on a dance party, offering fans a chance to release, feel safe and show off their creativity. That was fully on display Tuesday night in a sold-out show at Stage AE on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, where Ashnikko brought her Smoochies tour.
Ashnikko first debuted in 2016, with her song “Stupid” going viral on TikTok in 2019, bringing her a more mainstream audience. She followed that with the 2021 “Demidevil” mixtape that included “Daisy” and “Slumber Party,” before a pair of albums, “Weedkiller” in 2023 and “Smoochies” last year.
Familiar themes in her music include female empowerment, sexual liberation, body positivity, queer desire and revenge.
The pulsing show featured high-energy choreography, supported by a pair of dancers, including Pittsburgh’s Alyssa Massimiani in a hometown show. The often highly suggestive maneuvers put the dancers in evocative positions and provocative poses. Ashnikko related the story of doing one of those dance moves on “Lip Smacker” in front of her grandparents at a recent hometown show.
“I can see they were very shocked, but also very impressed by my athleticism,” she said.
Opening with “Sticky Fingers,” Ashnikko’s show went almost two hours through 26 tracks, with most songs clocking in at less than 3 minutes. Among the highlights were “Skin Cleared” — “I love breakup songs,” she said — plus “Manners,” which had the crowd waving their hands, and a bass-pumping “You Make Me Sick!”
Near the end of the show, Ashnikko blazed through a bevy of upbeat, overtly sexual songs like “Full Frontal,” “I Want My Boyfriends to Kiss” and “Itty Bitty.” She closed with raucous versions of “Slumber Party” and “Daisy,” donning a marching band hat for the finale.
Ashnikko would take a tea break after every few songs to talk with the audience, delving into her, ahem, cycle — “If I had any other job but this, I would call off sick (tonight)” — as well as her new album, romance, love of celebrating birthdays, toe hair and much more.
The receptive crowd helped to capture the vibe of Ashnikko’s free-spirited show. Fans were garbed in fishnets, neon, colored wigs, Alice in Wonderland dresses, light-up skirts and wedding attire, with plenty of hats ranging from a birdhouse, rubber ducks and safety pins. Crafty fans also participated in trinket trades before the show. Another had a thigh tattoo of Ashnikko, which impressed the singer.
“Thank you for just throwing anything on top of your head and calling it a hat,” said Ashnikko, as she asked those wearing really large ones to take them off in respect of the people behind them.
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What was missing: Ashnikko played the entire “Smoochies” album with one exception: “Baby Teeth.” Other notable omissions from her different eras included “Deal With It,” “Hi, It’s Me” and “Special.”
A look at the merch for Ashnikko, Royal & the Serpent and googly eyes at Stage AE in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/JFj3ATQa5W
— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) May 13, 2026
The merch: There wasn’t a huge selection of merch available from the musical acts, in comparison to most shows. Ashnikko’s offerings included baby doll and regular T-shirts for $50 and hoodies for $100. Royal & the Serpent shirts were $45, while googly eyes shirts were $30.
Last show here: Ashnikko also sold out her Sept. 19, 2023, appearance at Stage AE on the Weedkiller tour.
What’s next: Ashnikko is back on stage May 13 at the Fillmore Philadelphia, with tour dates all the way through September for shows that include Europe and Australia.
Royal & the Serpent
Ryan Santiago, who performs as Royal & the Serpent, began her 30-minute set crouched low atop a roomba-type device that slowly rotated her around like a music box dancer. Wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates shirt and with a Terrible Towel tucked into her shorts, she danced frenetically while playing songs from her debut concept album, “Emptiness is Godly,” which came out last week.
The set included her biggest single, “Overwhelmed,” as well as “Fiona,” which saw the Terrible Towel used as a prop.
She closed with “Wasteland” (from the “Arcane” animated series), returning to the spinner and ending her set like she began.
googly eyes
Experimental/alt pop artist googly eyes opened with seven songs over her 20-minute set, sandwiching her entire EP, “paint me like one of your fav american girls,” between two older songs. A classically trained singer, she showed off her vocal range on “Everything” and closed with “Brand New B——,” with her bracelet exploding onto the stage midsong.
Ashnikko setlist
Sticky Fingers
Working B——
Microplastics
She’s So Pretty
Lip Smacker
Trinkets
Smoochie Girl
Skin Cleared
Toxic/Invitation
Chichinya
Manners
You Make Me Sick!
Stupid
Tantrum
Chokehold Cherry Python
Weedkiller
Possession of a Weapon
It Girl
Wet Like
Full Frontal
I Want My Boyfriends to Kiss
Liquid
Itty Bitty
Slumber Party
Daisy