Lorde said she was happy to finally make it back to Hawke’s Bay and perform after Cyclone Gabrielle cancelled her earlier shows in the region. Photo / Maddisyn Jeffares
Lorde said she was happy to finally make it back to Hawke’s Bay and perform after Cyclone Gabrielle cancelled her earlier shows in the region. Photo / Maddisyn Jeffares
Lorde definitely has the “Green Light” from me after her Black Barn concert.
If I had to describe the Friday night Lorde concert at Black Barn in a few words I would say: fairy lights, dancing in the rain, blisters and some good laughs.
Each time I go to a concert at Black Barn I forget how long the walk from the carpark to the amphitheatre is and of course, I wore the wrong socks with my Doc Martins so while we were walking along the limestone pathway in the dark I could already feel the inevitable blisters that were to come.
Once getting to the front gate, things went smoothly. The security staff were getting wristbands on people in line so when they got to the front all they had to do was scan their tickets and get their bags checked.
My workmate Mitch and I were a little disappointed that we now look old enough not to be ID’d but that was completely a vanity issue and not an issue with security.
Lorde’s unique style was fun to see up close and she was great to watch and dance to. Photo / Maddisyn Jeffares
Black Barn’s amphitheatre is one of my favourite Hawke’s Bay venues, with its grassy levels, fairy lights and just all-around intimate feeling. No matter where you are you can see the stage. Mitch isn’t from Hawke’s Bay so to see his amazement and awe of the venue just reminded me how lucky we are to have the unique venues in Hastings.
We grabbed our drinks which were reasonably priced compared to other concerts I have recently been to. The bar was cash only which was an inconvenience, however Black Barn had set up a place to get cash out.
We arrived just in time to catch the end of Fazerdaze’s set, and the amphitheatre levels were already packed and everyone seemed to be having a great time.
We found a spot on the top level of the grass banks and settled in with our drinks. Stupidly we’d decided to leave our rain ponchos in the car because we couldn’t fit them in our bags when really we could have just carried them in, I really don’t know what we were thinking.
After sitting down for 10 minutes it started slowly spitting with rain. Luckily it was just a slight drizzle.
Broods were on before Lorde and honestly, I found them quite disappointing. They only played five songs, all in an acoustic set, and you could feel the audience just wanted something a bit more like their fast-paced music that is fun to dance to, especially with the rain starting to settle in.
Lorde wowed the crowd, even joining them in the rain throughout some of her later songs in the set. Photo / Maddisyn Jeffares
The duo, who I would quite happily listen to, just were not hitting the notes for the audience and they sadly didn’t have a stage presence.
Just before Lorde came out we made our way forward and ended up being two rows from the stage and beside a pushy drunk woman that security dealt with quickly after she started pushing kids. We were in the perfect spot.
The crowd shot to life when Lorde came out. People were screaming, everyone was shouting Ella, which in case you don’t know is Lorde’s real name.
She was blown away by the crowd chanting ‘Ella, Ella, Ella’ and was very interactive with the audience.
Lorde was so close and had such a good stage presence and was just really fun to watch. She interacted with the crowd and was using all of the stages so everyone would get a chance to see her.
The rain started to really come down as Lorde continued her set, however, Mitch and I didn’t care, we were having the best time dancing in the rain.
I Like Lorde’s music but I wouldn’t say I was a fan so I was worried at first that I wouldn’t know many of her songs, however she played a mix of new and old songs and by the end of the concert, I had almost lost my voice.
And as it was raining, Lorde was very transparent and said instead of running off the stage and waiting for us to shout for her to come out, she would just stay out and finish with two more songs so we didn’t have to stay in the rain any longer than necessary.
Altogether it was a fun night out. I thought it would take forever to get the car out of the field, however it was nice and easy to drive out of the parking area, walking back to the car and finding it took longer than it did to drive out of the venue.
