Every so often an artist comes along who strikes a chord with people of all ages. In the 90s that was Mariah Carey and Madonna. For a while, Britney Spears was the Queen of pop, as was Beyonce and Taylor Swift in recent years, until Swift's reputation got damaged (Taylor Swift's reputation, and her latest album of the same name will be discussed in another blog).
It's very rare though that a singer from New Zealand will hit the international stage, which makes Lorde's ascent to the top even more magical.
It all started five years ago when Lorde, who at the time was living in Takapuna/Devonport on Auckland's North Shore uploaded an EP to the internet. Her debut song, Royals was captivating and propelled her to the top of the US charts and many other charts around the world.
Four years after her debut, Lorde released Melodramaa, which has since had the singles Green Light, Liability, Homemade Dynamite and promotional single, Perfect Places.
Naturally, international artists of Lorde's standing embark on world tours, and that's exactly what Lorde has done. Even though she could fill stadiums, Lorde chose smaller, more intimate venues, one of which was the Sydney Opera House, which has a capacity of 5,500.
She played two shows at the iconic venue, on the 21st and 22nd of November 2017. I was lucky enough to be at the show on the 22nd of November.
The support act was George Maples, an electronica singer from Sydney, who has just released her debut album, Lovers. She wasn't anything special.
As with all shows there was about half an hour between the time that Maples' set finished and Lorde's started. Looking around the venue there were literally people of all ages from 10 right through to 60. Lorde has mass appeal.
Lorde opened with Homemade Dynamite and as you'd imagine, she has stage presence and oozes charisma when she's out there on stage. Unlike other artists of her calibre, Lorde has a scaled back show, but it doesn't matter because you can't help but be captivated by her singing.
In between songs, she spoke to the audience. Early on in the show, she said that Sydney was the most beautiful place that she's played and she couldn't believe that she was actually playing at the Opera House. She was really taken aback by the whole thing. Now we all know that artists say that the city they're in is their favourite, but later on in the show Lorde said that whenever she's in Sydney she goes out on a boat and that it's the only other city that actually feels like her home.
The show was split into three parts, with three costume changes. Her first outfit was a black boho inspired maxi skirt and a dark grey sparkly top. She then changed a third of the way through into a blue dress that easily could have belonged on a commune. The final outfit was similar, but was red.
Musically, the best part of the show was the final third where she played all her biggest hits: Royals, which the crowd went crazy for and sung along to, Perfect Places, Team and Green Light, which she was emotional before singing and asked the audience to sing along with her.
After Green Light a couple of minutes of fireworks were let off, and then she departed the stage before returning for an encore of her song, Loveless from Melodrama.
All in all, Lorde cannot only sing but she can work a crowd and truly connect with her audience. There is no lip syncing during the show. Every song is sung 100% live.
The highlights of the show were when she sung Royals; and when she spoke about how she was so grateful to be singing at the Opera House.
The lowlight was the song chosen for the encore. If I'd been in charge of the set list arrangement, I would have ended with Royals, the song that got her entire career started.
Overall the show deserves 4.5/5 stars.
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