Fans gathered at the Xcel Energy Center on Friday, March 23 to enjoy the Lorde Melodrama World Tour. The New Zealand singer released her second electro pop album Melodrama on June 16, 2017.
Performing for her first time in Minnesota, the crowd roared loud to give her an intense welcome. Prior to Minnesota, her tour stopped at many states, a few including Washington, Colorado and Missouri; she even did a show in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She will continue in the states and will go on to tour in Europe afterwards.
The show started with two opening acts. The first one to perform was swedish singer Tove Styrke. During her performance, the arena was quiet but delighted by the upbeat performer. The second opening act was a hip-hop duo called Run The Jewels. Run The Jewels was very loud during their performance, and many people got up and left their seats while the duo was on stage.
Lorde’s performance started with her hit song “Sober.” Because Melodrama is only 11 songs long, Lorde was able to play each track in the album. She also played fan favorites from her first album, Pure Heroin, like “Team,” “Royals,” and “Tennis Court.”
During the show, Lorde also paid a tribute to Prince. She told the story of when she first met him and the impact it had on her as a performer. To pay her respects, she sang a cover of his song “I would die 4 u.” This song was played exclusively for the St. Paul show.
Another song that was played exclusively for the St. Paul show was a cover and duet with one of the opening acts, Tove Styrke. The St. Paul show was Styrkes last performance with Lorde on the tour. To honor her, Lorde brought her back on stage to sing a duet. They covered “Hang with Me” by Robyn.
Lorde ended the show with the most popular song on the album, “Green Light.” Though she had left the stage, the lights remained dimmed and people remained in their seats, cheering for her to come back. A few minutes later the star arrived back on stage to deliver three more songs. She ended the encore and the entire set with “Team.”
At the end of the concert, cut-out hearts with handwritten messages on them rained down on the audience. Phrases like “That Green Light I want it” and “Melodrama forever” were written on them along with heart and star designs.
At the beginning of the concert, the venue was not very full. There were many seats open throughout the arena and continued to stay empty until a few minutes into Lorde coming onto the stage. Even when the arena filled out, it wasn’t a sold out show. Despite not being sold out in Minnesota, her New Zealand shows sold out within minutes of the tickets being on sale, and multiple other cities in the U.S. were also sold out.
The dancers and the lights really tied the show together. Most of the time the dancers were in a clear, hanging box above the stage, dancing over Lorde. The box would occasionally come down to the ground and fill with smoke, so Lorde could go in for an outfit change. The lights were subtle, but definitely had an effect on the mood of each song.
The view of the stage was good from all angles. The stage was big enough in the front of the arena to be easily seen, even from high-up points. There were also two big screens on each side of the stage that showed what was going on on the stage.
As for her singing, it sounded even better in person than it does when played off of my phone. She connected and checked in with the audience after almost every song and left a great impression on the crowd. Overall, the show and the experience was amazing and I would definitely buy tickets to another one of her shows if she ever comes back. I would give this show four out of five stars.
