Gig Review: Aurora – The Forum – 3 May 2019
After finishing my exhausting week at work, the idea of starting the weekend with my good friend seeing Aurora at The Forum (Melbourne) felt like a little joyful blessing.
First, because the venue hosts some of the biggest international artists and offer the best of modern music under the guise of what looks like an ancient Roman theatre. Secondly and foremost, Aurora is one of those artists like no other. I discovered her thanks to the collaboration she did with Einar Selvik on one of Wardruna’s songs (Helvegen) and was absolutely blown away by her angelic voice combined with Einar Selvik and Wardruna’s powerful grounded energy. It was a moment when I really felt grateful for music and absolutely fell in love with her.
To open the night was Tones and I, indie electronic single act from the Mornington Peninsula, adopted by Byron Bay as this is where her success emerged. For 45 minutes, Young Toni Watson set the level of what was to come with her absolute deep powerful voice combined with heavy electro beats, every song leaving each and everyone in awe. She released her debut single “Johnny Run Away” on 1st March, give it a listen and support her!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z3fcOmsSOk
It is nearly 9.45pm, lights shut down and Aurora arrives on stage along with her session band. She starts the night off with Churchyard, extract from her last release “Infections Of A Different Kind” and puts a spell on the whole venue with her sweet vocals that easily reminds you of Björk. As the set goes on, the more Aurora displays her incredible energy, dancing and running from one side to the stage to other. The crowd instantly gets caught into the vibe and gently starts dancing. I was absolutely amazed by how much she is able to put on as a performer, her young age and frail appearance doesn’t prevent her from giving everything . I was surprised when after a few songs, she felt the need to mention that she just got sick but refused to cancel her shows as it would have broken her heart. I personally didnt notice anything if she hadn’t make fun with her sniffings in between songs. This was actually another surprising fun aspect I discovered about her: not only is she a showwoman as a singer but also is she able to entertain the crowd by her sweet straightforward sense of humour. It was delightful to see how much she likes to directly engage with the crowd and use any excuse to tease it especially as she was given multiple gifts.
Musically my highlights have been The Murder Song (from ‘All Me Demons Greeting Me As A Friend’ ) and her very latest single release ‘The Seed’ powerful ecology oriented song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mc_OM5oNA8
I can only encourage anyone who don’t know her to give a listen to her music, it seems to be impossible to me to not be sensitive to it, and if she is near you, take the opportunity to see her!