Lorde at the O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

By Anya Baxter.

Lorde, aka Ella Yelich-O'Connor presented a brilliantly summery performance at the O2 Victoria Warehouse on Saturday night.

Photo by Anya Baxter

New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde has created a world of dreamy electropop since the age of sixteen when she released her smash hit debut album "Pure Heroine". The Grammy award-winning superstar has since released a further two studio albums, Melodrama (2017) and most recently, 2021 release Solar Power, where she pushed the boundaries with new styles and experimentation.

Photo by Anya Baxter

At first, all that could be seen was a silhouette of the singer as she performed "Leader of a New Regime", before bringing up the lights and swinging into "Homemade Dynamite" and "Buzzcut Season". Accompanied on stage by four other musicians, Lorde would pause in between songs to deliver heartfelt conversation and explanation to an adoring audience, delving into the meanings to songs such as "Hard Feelings" and "Fallen Fruit".

Photo by Anya Baxter

Upon reaching the cult classic "Ribs", the fans broke into a complete frenzy of joy as the teenage anthem of angst broke out into the main riff. After coming to a soft break with "Liability", Lorde headed into "Secrets from a Girl (Who's Seen it All)" and "Mood Ring", before maintaining the tempo for "Supercut" and "Perfect Places."

Photo by Anya Baxter

The song "Solar Power" saw the arrival of an explosion of yellow confetti, completely covering the audience and head to toe immersing them in the experience, followed by the top ten hit, "Green Light". The encore consisted of "400 Lux" and smash singles "Royals" and "Teams".

Photo by Anya Baxter