Lorde // Glastonbury, 2017 – Ivan Morris Poxton
It was a cramped front row view. Tiredness and aching feet occupied the mind. Lorde emerged in the fading evening light, performing an hour long set, finishing as night banished day. For those sixty minutes all aches and grumbles were forgotten. Feet danced on the audience barrier’s metal floor and the wood chippings just off it.
Wearing a one-piece floral Gucci jumpsuit, dancing exuberantly in her trainers, Lorde exuded endless passion. She seemed to feed off the audience’s fervour for her. We too indulged off her complete dedication and gusto. Audience members nearby proudly twirled a flag that read “Lorde is My Shepherd”. They cried loud tears of happiness when the artist appreciated it.
On stage, rising and swaying on scissor-lifts was a human-sized fish tank containing dancers—a memorable visual depiction of the party setting underlying much of Lorde’s second album, Melodrama. The ballad ‘Liability’ stood out. With its slower pace, an intimacy was created, aided by Lorde’s emotive reveal of the “bottomless pit of misery” that inspired the track.
‘What the f*** are perfect places anyway?’, sings Lorde in ‘Perfect Places’. That place, that night, at that live gig was one of them.