Lorde so good it's sick: concert review
CONCERT
Lorde
Challenge Stadium
Saturday, July 5
REVIEW SIMON COLLINS
Growing up and throwing up, Ella Yelich-O'Connor - better known as Lorde - is learning life in the spotlight isn't all about, as she sings in Bravado, being "raised up to be admired, to be noticed".
The first show of the Grammy Award- winning 17-year-old New Zealander's first headlining Australian tour, already rescheduled from April due to illness, was nearly over after only five songs.
Lorde was midway through the chilled-out Buzzcut Season when she suddenly announced: "I'm just not feeling well. Sorry, can you give me one second," before fleeing the stage.
High drama. Social media crashed local networks. A bloke wandered out and said there were "technical issues". The house music went on. The lights stayed down.
After several minutes Lorde returned, giving a genuine and classy apology. She added: "I must've eaten something bad," before recommencing with her downbeat cover of the Replacements' Swingin Party.
The show went on, albeit with the singer occasionally relying on a stool to stay upright and keeping her idiosyncratically spasmodic dance moves to a minimum. She still had the energy to sing superbly and, more importantly, flick her trademark cascade of dark curls.
Either side of that incident, Lorde and her two-piece backing band - keyboardist/DJ Jimmy Mac and drummer Ben Barter - turned on an assured performance of sparse, indie-electro topped by the young singer's rich, distinctive voice.
Less than a year ago, the Kiwi made her Australian debut as the last-minute replacement for Frank Ocean at east-coast festival Splendour in the Grass.
Lorde's short, tentative set then showed glimpses of brilliance but was a world away from the artist about 4000 fans witnessed on Saturday night.
Dressed demurely in a black pantsuit, she started strongly with Glory and Gore, Biting Down and Tennis Court - two tracks from debut album Pure Heroine bookending one from The Love Club EP - only pausing to convey how happy she was to be finally starting the tour.
Admiring the large, young and mostly female audience almost filling the stadium, Lorde remarked that the Wiggles are playing the same venue. "I've totally made it."
The Takapuna Grammar School pupil has clearly taken notes from her BFF Taylor Swift, who expertly connects with fans via between-song chats.
After the excellent love story 400 Lux, Bravado and a cover of New York alternative hip-hopper Son Lux 's Easy - the Grace Jones-esque sampled horns, horse neighs and crunchy percussion suited the Kiwi - Lorde gave the longest speech of the evening.
She said postponing the tour had made her "so angry" and that nearly passing out backstage earlier in the evening had been "terrifying", because "you're all here waiting for me".
While she doesn't set out to meet the expectations of the music industry, Lorde is serious about her unspoken contract with fans. "I used to be scared about being an adult but I'm not scared about growing up," she finally declared before launching into the excellent Ribs.
This Pure Heroine highlight started a crowd-pleasing climax, with a stripped-back rendition of mega-hit Royals, the more expansive, dance-worthy international Top 10 single Team (complete with confetti, or was that New Zealand dollars) and regular finale A World Alone bringing the show home.
No encore. Just a final bow and presumably a good lie-down backstage.
"I'm faking glory," Lorde sings in Bravado, one of several prescient songs penned before her star ascended. "Lick my lips, toss my hair and turn the smile on."
There's no faking anything with this remarkable artist. She's not old but she's already a trouper.
