Amoeba gets to be visited by lots of eclectic artists, from obscure indie ones to rock legends (Patti Smith recently was there), and the Ellie Goulding type who attracts a huge crowd, and I am talking about a Lana Del Rey crowd, with a line running around the building hours before the show,… Who are these people who can waste 4 hours of their lives to listen to 5 songs? And who is this woman anyway? I saw her at the Grove in April 2011, and there were hardly a few people and now she is able to pack Amoeba like McCartney? May be not to that point, but the crowd was impressive, and let’s just say I got lucky when I arrived only one hour before her performance, and sneaked into a not-too-far-from-the-stage spot.
I didn’t know she was that big nor did she apparently, as she repeated a few times she was freaking out because the crowd was crazy big. And the crowd was insane for her, especially the young girls screaming as if she was one of the Beatles,… or Skrillex… okay, I have to update for this young generation, which probably does even know the names of the Beatles.
Matching her beau Skrillex’s hair, kind of, Ellie appeared on stage wearing a black and white outfit, short leather pants, wooly sport jacket (in this heat!), as well as an upbeat mood, once again totally amazed by the sea of people in front of her.
She started with ‘My Blood’ off her brand new ‘Halcyon’ album, just backed up by two musicians, gently strumming guitar and keyboard behind her powerhouse vocals. Because this is what it is about with Ellie, the strong vocals going above the melody of the song, and for her performance at Amoeba, they were almost naked, going in sad mode during ‘I know you care’, doing all kinds of ooo-oo-ooo-oos and aaa-aa-aaa-aas during ‘Starry Eyed’, sounding almost childish, in a breathy Dolly-Parton kind of way.
At ease on stage, drinking her water and chatting with the crowd, she gave a R&B inspired-performance, being very expressive, knocking her hands on her chest, adopting a Mariah Carey’s gesture range… I don’t remember exactly this kind of stuff from her 2011 show, but it seems she is also the chameleon type, going from electronic-dance-auto-tuned princess to Adele-Florence-and-the-Machine-aspiring diva. In any case, people seemed to love whatever she sang, although her vocalization was more acrobatic than emotional, always staying in the safe range… but I would made a sort of exception for the catchy tune ‘Anything Could Happen’, sounding more sincere and warm than on the album, making the hysteric crowd even happier, singing and clapping along. She closed her short set with her Elton John’s cover, ‘Your Song’, the same one she sang at the wedding of the ‘dazzling royals’ to quote Morrissey. It was a song she hadn’t planned to sing apparently and it was obviously a crowd pleaser, but anyone standing there was already exhilarated to be in the presence of this new pop princess in the first place… Still she couldn’t believe the crowd, took a picture or two before leaving and doing the signing.
I guess she is better live than on record because I can’t stand the auto tune vocals, really it’s always a turn-off for me…. Still I have a hard time to understand this kind of hype, she is a good performer but her songs are easily forgettable and the lyrics are totally inoffensive… I guess this what rocks the young crowd these days.
