LORDE
Big stage shows growing pains
It was natural for Lorde to get a bit of stage fright tonight, nearly all alone on the immense Green Stage and looking out at a largish audience that was digging in for a multi-hour Bjork performance. Just gracing this stage at the young age of 20 is an achievement in itself, though there were some obvious growing pains such as Lorde being too chatty and effusive between songs which reflected a lack of confidence.
Blame it on a thin back catalog of songs to draw from. Lorde admitted as much, explaining her long delayed return to Japan was due to 4-year gap between records. I saw her first appearance years ago at the Red Marquee and she definitely was a “Queen Bee” though tonight, she seems to have done a lot of soul searching leading up to the recording and release of her latest, Melodrama.
To assist her transition from a brash confident rock star associated with her hit record Pure Heroine Lorde simply turned to alt-indie icon Kate Bush for inspiration. Her black lace dress was a definite nod with Lorde also chiding the audience by saying “as you all know I am a witch and I might just conjure up something.” Such words were also frequently uttered by Kate Bush when she was onstage, and such a persona also infiltrated many of her songs and lyrics.
When Lorde first appeared at the Red Marquee in 2014, she was one of the most anticipated shows all weekend. She ruled that intimate venue with aggressive dance choreography and the confidence of a hit album. Much of this energy was present tonight, especially when it came to old material such as “Tennis Court” from her debut release. The larger stage tonight made her appear less in control, making her prone to simply stalking from stage right to stage left. During such times she would praise the audience with banter like, “Fuji Rock you are a beautiful crowd.” And, “I will never go home again”. Or as a New Zealand native might ask rhetorically, “So has it been a good festival?”
Lorde debuted new songs such as “Homemade Dynamite”, “Liability,” and “Supercut”. All were quite passable and enjoyed by the audience down front but the longer set for her as a sub-headliner was beginning to be apparent and “Royals” just didn’t have the same pop as three years ago. During the song, “Team”, she descended into the pit to reach out to the audience. New track, “Green Light” was her strongest number and all in all, it was a good way to set up Bjork who would grace the stage in a wholly unique and personal way just an hour later in the evening.
