Queen Bee and teen sensation Lorde plays to a sold out brixton academy

Teen pop phenomenon Lorde (Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor) plays her two biggest headlining UK shows to date, the previous night at Shepherds Bush Empire and this Brixton Academy show, both sold out less than 24 hours.

Lorde @ Brixton Academy 7/10

The eager crowd at the Brixton Academy is young, really young, it's easy to forget with critical acclaim and universal appeal that Lorde is a teen pop star, at only 17 (that’s water she is drinking onstage as she’s too young to drink alcohol) and whilst she may project a maturity beyond her years she is essentially a teens singing about growing up and being a teenager for teenagers. She cuts a sharp figure coming onstage in a black suit and crisp white shirt, freshly washed hair like a lionesses mane. While her contemporaries (Miley Cryus et al) seem obsessed with fronting their sexuality for everyone to see, Lorde is mixing gender stereotypes much like real pop stars, think Annie Lennox but with more hair, a lot more hair. Opening with
Glory and Gore bathed in a spotlight she jerks and thrusts to the glitchy scratchy beats, the backdrop falls to the floor and her immaculately dressed band are reveled resplendent in white and a huge chandelier glistens in the light. Much has been said about her onstage dance moves, part Laura Palmer in the Red Room, part Thom Yorke, a mass of hair and flailing limbs its refreshing to see such a fearless exhibition of movement on stage. Her voice is impeccable, occasionally husky and full-bodied but also light and youthful.
Playing for just over an hour the set includes the whole of her debut album
Pure Heroine, Biting Down from her
Tennis Court EP and a cover of The Replacements
Swinging Party. Her biggest and arguably best songs
Royals and the awesome genre-bending
Team are saved until the end, but not the very end. The confetti explosions bring
Team to a close but there is one more song,
A World Alone and a quick costume change. She returns onstage sporting a Kate Bush-esque gold cape for the finale, there is no encore.
For all the right notes, captivating dancing and sincerity there is one gaping problem, apart from the sensational
Team and the mega hit
Royals the songs are a bit boring and monotonous. They all follow the same verse chorus, verse chorus pop song pattern and while her backing band are terrific they only really do one sound – machine - drum machines and samples, there is a distinct lack of real music. Not that any of this mattered to the adoring crowd, screaming and cheering at every opportunity, there is no denying Lorde is a truly captivating and accomplished performer beyond her mere 17 years and when the quality of her songs match this live energy, which they will, she will be unstoppable.
http://lorde.co.nz/

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