O2 Apollo, Manchester
Have you ever discovered an artist or band at just the right moment to heal your soul, an artist that you discover just for yourself, wanting to let everyone know about them telling all your friends and family for them to turn around and say “Yeah we know” and this is when you realise that they are actually a mega-star that completely blew past you? This was AURORA for me. Now mega-star may be a little hyperbolic but walking up to the beacon of the 02 Apollo in Manchester you wouldn’t be amiss to think so with the queue snaking around the building far off into the distance. This show has been sold out for a good while, when it was booked sometime towards the end of 2023 it was the correct size for her but since then she played a legendary Glastonbury set that saw her rise towards the stratosphere and when she finally returns to the UK in May, she will be playing Wembley, so this should be special.
As I entered the Apollo and found my space somewhere towards the middle back nestled between what can only be described as an absurd amount of couples I began one of my favourite past times waiting for bands to start playing, people watching to determine what kind of crowd we have tonight. Now not to to toot my own horn, but I’ve been to my fair share of shows at this point from the heaviest black and death metal bands to rap and pop princesses and this may just be one of the strangest audiences I have ever seen. Scattered between the aforementioned cacophony of couples I spot old men, fathers, daughters, indie boys, and even one guy just to my right wearing a Carcass shirt. Now this may be odd but to me, it screams one thing, this girl is so good she appeals to everyone so I settle myself in for what’s to come.
Finally, after a gruelling 30-minute wait that due to the anticipation feels more like 2 hours, the lights go out and a large screen pops into life at the back of the stage showing AURORA herself peering over the audience, she speaks something but the screams and applause around me and throughout the entire venue are so loud I can barely make out what she is supposed to be saying. This thunderous noise doesn’t stop as the band makes their way to the stage, a beautiful but simple stage with metallic birds adorning the sides not too flashy but flashy enough to show some thought was put into it. Then AURORA herself appears and the thunderous applause turns into a full-on earthquake, I haven’t seen a crowd scream like this for anyone in a long time and I worry that I won’t be able to hear the music at all.
Yet, as AURORA begins with the beautiful but somber Churchyard a silence sets over the audience with this 28-year-old commanding the full and undivided attention of every single soul in the venue. It doesn’t take long for her to start interacting with the crowd pausing after her first song to another thunderous applause, a theme that would continue through the entire set, before launching into a long ramble about Manchester with her tour manager originating from the city with the Manchester accent, the only British accent she can suitably do, although when she shows this off to the crowd the groan shows that everybody respectfully disagrees. She then dedicates the next song to “everyone who is sad” the tragic All Is Soft Inside, again bringing the audience to a complete and slightly eerie silence, completely captivated by the beauty of the notes AURORA can reach.
The theme of sadness is something I and most probably the rest of the crowd expected tonight with AURORA appealing to this sensibility a lot, my expectations are found warranted with the next three songs A Soul With No King, Murder Song, and Heathens all haunting and beautiful songs but towards the end of Heathens I can feel the audience begin to vibrate a little, loving the talent on show but starting to hunger for something a little more lively. But as with all professionals she does not disappoint, as if reading the mind of the audience a large AURORA appears on the screen welding a knife and screaming before the first notes of When the Dark Dresses Lightly hit the crowd reviving the audience instantly with cheers emanating throughout the venue.
This levity is short-lived though, she begins another lengthy speech about why she does what she does thanking the crowd for ever showing up to any of her shows and every time she says something slightly applause worthy the entire venue erupts. This is followed by another five what I would call, “I’m sad” songs, maybe my favourite genre but for a live show this can start to become a little tiresome. Eventually, though AURORA gives another speech this time condemning a great deal of things, war, global warming, famine all the usuals tying these ideas and the pain this brings to the children of the world to her next song Runaway. This is when the set really gets going as the crowd finds its singing voice, singing the words back in a beautiful chorus that keeps going with the crowd also finding its feet dancing along bringing some genuine happiness to the whole affair.
As AURORA continues with one of my personal highlights of the entire set The Seed, leading the crowd in a huge sing-along before quickly moving into the dancey Starvation which gives me genuine Prodigy flashes at points, it dawns on me she knew exactly what she was doing with this setlist. Front-loading the set with a lot of melancholy songs to then build into a fun, dance-filled second half this girl is a genuine genius. Indeed, everyone’s favourite comparison at the moment seems to be between AURORA and Bjork, something I myself am guilty of and while one hails from Norway and the other Iceland the out-of-this-world nature of the individuals can’t be ignored.
With that, the band and AURORA leave the stage, everything going dark and the usual chant of “one more song” rings through the crowd. This chant quickly turns into more applause as the band begins to return for the encore and AURORA once again appears as a towering figure on the back screen before stepping onto the stage, launching into the fan favourite and TikTok famous Cure For Me, this once again gets the crowd dancing and this doesn’t stop for the next song either Some Type Of Skin with AURORA now wearing a huge sun mask on the back screen and prancing around, clearly having the time of her life with the feeling emanating out into the audience.
But this is AURORA and while the dancing and happiness were good while they lasted, you know with the way her music is we have to end on a sombre note. This comes in the form of two of the most beautiful songs I have ever had the privilege of hearing live. Animal Soul comes first, a rarity played on no other show on the tour but a fan request led her to play it with AURORA forgetting the first verse to begin with. “We all have wounds we don’t show the world” she asserts, as the rest of the band leave the stage, leaving just her and her keyboard to close out the show with the heart-wrenching Invisible Wounds.
Now to say my heart broke during this would be an understatement, I’m not too proud to say I shed quite a few tears during this but I didn’t feel alone, as far as I could see most of the crowd was joining me in the tears, a fully cathartic and joining experience, the perfect way to end a show of this type.
Then as quick as it started, it ended, AURORA offering no goodbyes or thank-yous as she had through the rest of the set, simply walking off the stage and leaving everyone to sit with what they have just experienced, to wipe away the tears and slowly shift out of the venue. As I leave I try to gather my final thoughts, but really when it comes to a show of this magnitude and feeling that is a very hard task. All I can say is AURORA is on her way to take over the world and everybody needs to go see her.
