Newcastle Entertainment Centre
Saturday July 19, 2014 :
As a young woman the same age at the songstress, I understand her short set. But as a fan and a (maybe not-so) wild teen, it was too short for an $80 show. For a 17 year old girl at the end of her months of touring was she glad to be home? Maybe not.
The performance was awesome, and I use that word with its strict definition. Opening with ‘Glory and Gore’ alone on the stage, the solo artist had the audience watching in awe as she disappeared into her own little musical world. With the revealing of a mere two back-up musicians behind a black curtain, she danced like every 17 year old girl on a stage in front of hundreds would dance, a mixture of rave and awkward-bedroom dancing.
A costume change and two confetti cannons later, Lorde had exhausted the tracks from her album Pure Heroine and left the audience amazed, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say a little disappointed. Performance, sound and environment-wise, the show was spot on. But length-wise?
Perhaps the performance would have been more appropriate in a quaint bar or university stage for the eclectic tribe of teenagers. The fame caught Lorde quickly, maybe before she was quite ready, both material and endurance-wise, to handle it all. Despite it all, Lorde sung her audience into a musical daze and the performance left us itching for more.
Reviewer: Stephanie Jenkins
Photographer: Kevin Bull