Melbourne came alive with love on Thursday night as Norwegian sensation AURORA closed out her sold-out run of shows on ‘The Gods We Can Touch’ tour, in Australia. The location was a perfect choice, with AURORA and her band’s performance fitting the beauty of St Kilda’s Palais Theatre unquestionably complimenting her style and tone.
The perfect compliment didn’t stop there though as Aurora’s opening act, Blusher, were a brilliant counterpart to the headliner’s music. Heading out for their first tour, there must have been an air of nostalgia and sadness for the trio, as the whirlwind week-long tour came to a close. That being said, you wouldn’t have been able to tell as they came out and performed in style. Their stunning harmonies were almost haunting in their beauty, calling back to the era of girl groups dominating the world, something that can easily be seen in Blusher’s future.
Beyond just a simple music set, AURORA’s performances are always a complicated yet beautiful fusion of dance, song and fun. Managing to have a set full of humour, whimsy and meaning can be rare with artists often trying too hard to focus on one over the others, but AURORA’s set was lacking nothing.
“Apple Tree” was dedicated to all the people out there just trying to be themselves, alongside women for International Women’s Day; the day before. It was a poignant moment, followed up by “Queendom”, emphasising AURORA’s support to anyone wishing to be themselves as both she and the crowd held up the LGBTIQA+ flag through the song.
These then led to an emphasis on love through “Exist for Love” and “A Potion for Love”, both slow, yet beautiful songs that displayed AURORA’s lyrical and vocal ranges. Her band helped through these moments, working in total sync with AURORA to produce angelic layered vocals, creating beautiful soundscapes throughout the evening.
For an artist with so many popular tracks, AURORA managed her setlist well between her newer works and older, well-loved numbers off albums such as All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend. The end of the set felt like a rush of fan favourites, with “Runaway” following into “Churchyard”, “The Seed” and “Running With the Wolves”.
Thankfully, AURORA and her band were not done, with two more songs coming after a walk-off encore. Playing what could be considered one of her most popular current songs, AURORA opted to reignite the fire in the room with “Cure for Me”. Once the sub-bass for the track kicked in, a cheer erupted throughout the crowd and a dance party ensued.
Aurora closed the evening and tour on a far softer note, after the energy of “Cure for Me”, the harmonies of AURORA and her two backing vocalists took over the theatre through “Giving In To the Love”. The song was brilliant in its execution and seeing the quintet walk off stage was bittersweet for all.
Overall, the evening was a wonderful way to finish ‘The Gods We Can Touch’ tour with the Melbourne crowd completely enamoured by the performance. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing Aurora out here again soon.
FIVE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
AURORA heads to South America now, to perform dates at Lollapalooza before continuing her tour on the continent.
