A Saturday night, a big flourishing international artist and one of Australia’s most iconic live music venues; Festival Hall, the stage was set for a massive night. As well as a swathe of loyal and excitable Ellie Goulding fans, the evening also contained the more than promising brother and sister duo from New Zealand, Broods.
Joined on stage by a touring drummer the pair played around eight or nine songs including all five from their debut self-titled EP. They offered up a really enjoyable set that despite showing off singer Georgia Nott’s vocal abilities, the sound mixing meant her voice was often lost or muffled behind their strong synth pop sound.
Throughout their time onstage there was a fair few moments when nearby members of the audience had moments of realisation when they recognised these guys were the ones who sing that song you’ve heard a million times before. This was most common during ‘Bridges’ which also garnered the best reaction of their set in general due to it being their track that’s received the most airplay. ‘Pretty Thing’ was also a popular cut but unfortunately overall the crowd really failed to get very involved in the set despite the band being a really great fit as a support slot for an artist of Ellie Goulding’s style.
Right on schedule Ellie arrived onstage to a thoroughly delirious reaction from fans. From the moment she sang the very first line of ‘Figure 8’ from Halcyon it became clear that, while not quite sold out, those who had made the effort to come out were hardcore fans. Her distinctive, warm, sweet-sounding vocal style was spot on from the get go. When going to see great vocal talents for the first time there’s always a nervous excitement, worrying they won’t be as good live. With Ellie Goulding, any worries were absolved quickly as her talent shone through early on and often throughout the generous set.
Playing a total of 21 songs including the encore, her set included a cover of Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ as well as completely acoustic versions of ‘Guns and Horses’ and the immensely popular ‘Beating Heart’. Given Ellie only has two albums, albeit 2012’s Halcyon was repacked into a longer deluxe album entitled Halcyon Days last year, the set was impressively lengthy for an artist with a modest back catalogue when it comes to sheer amount of songs.
The end of her set saw Ellie really take things up a notch as the songs in the setlist got better, including the brilliant breakout hit ‘Anything Could Happen’ which garnered a insanely loud cheer when the distinctive opening began. ‘Explosions’ was a mid-set highlight while the understated ‘Lights’ brought just that from the audience, in the form of mobile phones, torches and cameras, which were enthusiastically waved in the air in time with the music.
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It must be mentioned how humble and incredibly likeable Ellie is in person, and manages to make a decent sized venue feel rather intimate. She comes across as personable, funny and extremely gracious to her fans. Meanwhile her English accent is even sweeter when speaking than singing.
After leaving the stage for just a few minutes Ellie reappeared for the obligatory encore, playing ‘You, My Everything’ before finishing with monster hit ‘Burn’ much to the delight of everyone in attendance. Ellie really put on a show, her vocals were impeccable and her banter in between songs combined with a thoroughly impressive light show made for a thoroughly entertaining night of music.
Check out the photo gallery to this show.
