By Christina Croucher

Artist:  Lorde

Date / Venue:  Wednesday January 29th, Silo Park, Auckland

Just short of 10,000 fans waited last night for Lorde to come out on stage at Silo Park.

From the first song where Lorde, Jimmy Mac (keys) and Ben Barter (drums) belted out Bravado, it was apparent why this 17 year old from our humble NZ shores has become an epic international musician. Stoked to be back on home land after just earlier in the day arriving on a plane from LA; Lorde gave a gripping just over one hour set exceeding all expectations.

The petite songstress ruled the stage with her full head of dark curls that would flip over to touch the ground at least once every minute as her black dressed body moved possessed-like to her music. Her deep voice sounds even richer live and beyond her years with its steadiness and strength. Her presence is that of a timeless, natural born musician.

She played everything her radio fans would want to hear and all the songs off her album Pure Heroine. It was all fantastic; Buzzcut Season, Glory And Gore and Team were really powerful live. Royals, the song that lifted her years of work off the ground was a great moment. Lorde still freshly ecstatic "Sorry for swearing but I fucking won two Grammys" played Royals whilst an array of glow sticks were thrown towards the stage. The stage lit up in potent white lights as she sang 400 Lux, one of her sweeter songs off Pure Heroine. You could see the shadow of her animal-like performance in the crates stacked up along the sides of Silo Park which visually enhanced the already great lighting work.

The music was punchy, the drumming fantastic, with brilliant quality of sounds from Jimmy who switched to a grand piano sound as Ella and him predominantly performed a beautiful cover of James Blake's Retrogradewhich really showed off her voice. The show attracted a broad audience and you could hear why as the original but versatile sound caters to anyone who loves their heavy beats, intricate electronic music, memorable melodies, interesting lyrics and raw soulful music. Ella sank deep into her gutsy tone and held it perfectly; occasionally creeping up into her high voice so smoothly, without ever sounding like she was trying too hard. Lorde has a presence of someone with an incredible amount of experience. 
She moves in her own way and feels her music even more than we do; how could you not love this Kiwi chick that drops the F-bomb at an underage concert and wears her school shoes to the Grammy's. I have a feeling this is only just the beginning for Lorde.