Live Review: Lorde - Roundhouse, London 01/06/2022
Lorde sends fans bananas on her opening night at the Roundhouse – and consumes one herself amidst a big pop celebration.
Early on in the first of her three nights, she called the Roundhouse, a former train engine shed, a “beautiful venue” where she saw Haim and Kendrick Lamar on one of her first visits to London in 2013. The Solar Power Tour is an intimate offering to showcase last year’s album, but it also offers an opportunity to remember why we loved Ella – or Lorde – from the beginning.
Opener ‘Leader of a New Regime’ showed how shadow would be critical to the night’s on-stage visuals, before bursting through ‘Homemade Dynamite’ and 2013’s ‘Buzzcut Season’.
At a time with much discussion about the future of pop shows, with the opening of the ABBA Arena, the lyrics of the latter feel even more relevant now: “I live in a hologram with you.” But for now, we’re grateful to embrace 25-year-old Lorde before having to worry about incoming avatars.
Lorde’s backing band were superstars, looking like they’d just stepped from the “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” aesthetic of the early 1970s. This made a perfect feeling next to songs like ‘The Path’ and ‘California’ which shared the same sonic vibe.
Lorde said “every album is full of summer”, so it was a great way to mark the first day of June. Those who spent the sunny day queuing saw Marlon Williams’ support set in full. I only caught the latter half, but he embraced the stage, dancing funky moves over incoming summer hit ‘My Boy’. He was also warmly received playing keys on ‘Trips’ and ‘Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore’.
But it’s all about Lorde. “I’m with my real ones tonight”, she said, noting the tickets sold out in minutes. Sure, she conquers bigger venues with the same vibe, but it also made crowd reactions more visceral. ‘Ribs’, which she wrote aged 15, turned the venue into the Camden Ravehouse for four minutes to mark its tin anniversary, while ‘Supercut’ was perfection over strong percussion.
After ‘Hard Feelings’, Lorde revealed plans to do an on-stage first: eat. She called for a banana, hoping to fight a dizzy spell bought on by Red Bull and a B12 shot. The crowd cheered through as she peeled and ate while sat on a set of steps central to the stage, and the visualisation of several of the show’s performances. It was so absurd, and yet felt perfectly on brand for Lorde’s creative craziness.
When Lorde talks, she comes across as a motivational speaker, albeit one in a yellow bikini top, or a silver Disney princess dress, depending on where we are in the show. The shadowy parts of her changing between outfits is flirty without being explicit, and it worked perfectly. One of her more notable monologues compared the similarities of being on tour with her love of swimming, with both giving her a “total immersion feeling”. The show gave the crowd that same buzz too.
The title track is a big moment, accompanied by sun-shaped yellow confetti, and it runs straight into ‘Green Light’, a colourful duo emerging in a ball of energy towards the end of the main show. As the ‘Melodrama’ hit came to an end, Lorde waved a fan’s rainbow flag aloft, having earlier acknowledged the crowd had come out to see her on the first day of pride month.
Back in a technicolor jumpsuit for the encore, Lorde and the female members of her backing band gave off girl group vibes as they sang “Let’s hear it for the girls” from bonus track ‘Helen of Troy’.
With ample hits, bringing an end to the celebrations needs to be done in the right way. ‘Royals’ and ‘Team’ showed why Lorde has been a presence for so long, despite “infrequent” touring by her own admission. Those songs are as vital now as they were on 'Pure Heroine’.
The show was strong on bold black shadow, but it was also rich with colour, from the silver dress to the yellow of the sun confetti – and the banana, of course. It all feels like Lorde’s palette; we’re lucky to paint with her for an evening.
Words by Samuel Draper
Photography by Lauren Robey
