And now we get to Lorde. I’ve spent the past three months changing my opinion on the kid from OK but nothing great to not OK nothing great and back again, though a terrific version of the Replacements “Swingin’ Party’ helped.
Also, as these things go, Lorde is pretty damn self-aware. It was Lorde who said “People have treated me like a fascinating toy” and that is the exact dynamic of Lorde, the sound is so original that when you add or subtract from it, you are left with something other than that sound. The result has all the feel of a limited sound, of a cabbage patch kid, something you play with for awhile but then put on the ledge and ignore for all times because, well, because the novelty wore off.
It isn’t that I think Lorde is all novelty but rather that she sounds like all novelty, I am not a huge fan but I don’t think she is shallow, and I realize she is quite aware of what she is going through. And, looking at her, she has the realness of the other, she looks sort of out of place.
So this tour, her two nights at Roseland an instantaneous sellout by the way, is a victory lap or a farewell to stardom. Usually I can take an inspired guess but now I can’t because there is too much riding on what you can change up on the next album.
I haven’t seen her in person but film of Lorde in person leaves a lot to be desired; she emotes by flapping her arms and scrunching her face into a writhing ball. She doesn’t dance or move her hips, she is a static presence and my bet is within three songs you’ll have had enough.
I didn’t get a ticket to roseland but, along with my new found manner of music viewing, for the most part I am going to leave it to the last minute and get a ticket off stubhub if I have to: it should still be easier than the waste of triple booking that has afflicted me in 2013.
But Lorde? At Roseland? Maybe not…
North American tour dates:
March 3 – Austin Music Hall, Austin
March 4 – Southside Ballroom, Dallas
March 5 – Bayou, Houston
March 7 – Echostage, Washington, D.C.
March 8 – Tower Theatre, Philadelphia
March 11-12 – Roseland Ballroom, New York
March 14 – Orpheum, Boston
March 15 – Sound Academy, Toronto
March 16 – Fillmore, Detroit
March 18 – Aragon, Chicago
March 20 – Peabody Opera House, St. Louis
March 21 – Arvest Bank Theatre, Kansas City, Mo.
March 22 – Fillmore Auditorium, Denver
March 24 – WAMU Theater, Seattle
March 26 – Fox, Oakland, Calif.