REVIEW:
Lorde
Mighty Mighty, May 10
Lorde’s gig was the place to be in Wellington on Friday night, that was obvious. If the fact it sold out in 73 seconds hadn’t told you that much, then the number of cellphones snapping and tweeting and updating Facebook statuses midshow would have made it clear.
Lorde, aka Ella Yelich- O’Connor, has a voice to be reckoned with. The 16-year-old Auckland schoolgirl emerged into the pop mainstream from relative obscurity a couple of months ago, her single Royals entering the New Zealand charts at No 1.
Her five-track EP, initially on Soundcloud, was downloaded 60,000 times before being made available on iTunes. In short, the girl is a sensation.
But her gig was one of the strangest I’ve attended. The doors opened at 9pm. When, at 9.30pm, there was still just a DJ and a smattering of a crowd, we decided to go for a walk.
When we returned, it was to an oddly subdued audience. I mean, Lorde was singing.
She was good, with a powerful, smoky voice seemingly suited to someone twice her age. She owned the stage, cradling the microphone and coming across as a sort of neo-Stevie Nicks with her long, incredible locks and dark lipstick.
But was anyone dancing Kind of. The rest were too preoccupied documenting the event.
“Oh my god I’m in love with her,” the girl in front of us said to her friend, her fingers sliding across her iPhone. “She’s so hot,” from another guy, looking at her through his video.
Her brand of indie-pop is spectacularly catchy, and her voice really is amazing.
I wish the backing track hadn’t been up so loud – at times it was difficult to hear her actually singing over the top of it. The one song she did without backing vocals was by far the most impressive.
At 11.33pm, just half an hour after she began, the set was over.
Shouts of “encore, encore”, were quickly silenced. “She will not be giving an encore. That was amazing,” we were told, before Lorde was rushed out.
Like I said, it was the strangest, and possibly shortest, gig I’ve been to. But the fans I spoke to afterwards were buzzing, seemingly unconcerned. “Just seeing her is enough,” one said.
I’d like to see her again – in a few years, with more songs, and maybe a supporting act. But I doubt the world will wait till then.
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