Ellie Goulding: A Whirlwind of Beats

Ellie Goulding w/ BROODS
KeyArena, Seattle, WA
04.02.16

All it takes is a curtain printed with her face to incite a wave of screams amongst the crowd, waiting with anticipation for Ellie Goulding to take the stage at Seattle’s KeyArena. When her “Delirium” intro starts, and the room goes from pitch-black to sparkling, Goulding emerges through glittering gold drapes before breaking into “Aftertaste,” the high-intensity, beat-driven opening track to her 2015 album Delirium.

From there, the well-rounded British songstress blasts through a blockbuster live performance, a mix of new tracks balanced with her major hits from the past five years. The strong beats of newer songs like “Holding on for Life” and “On My Mind” are perfect fodder for a quartet of perfectly chiseled male dancers that accompany Goulding throughout the night, and she occasionally breaks out a tom-tom solo, a move she’s been rocking for a while now, but that still incites appreciation from the crowd.

Goulding’s near-operatic voice is on display, her unique vocal inflections showcased against glittering, frothy dance-pop. While she’s moved from her folksy EDM beginnings to more hedonistic mainstream pop on this latest album, Goulding is clearly adept and powerful either way. She occasionally lets the crowd sing her big choruses, like on Calvin Harris’s “Outside” and then breaks out her big white guitar for the sentimental “Devotion,” all the while including charming banter between tracks that makes her disarmingly relatable for her level of pop-star success.

The middle of the show takes a softer, acoustic turn, as she changes into a shimmering white gown for tender renditions of “Explosions,” “Lights” – during which the crowd lights up the arena with their phones – and “Army,” an ode to always-reliable BFFdom, which tonight encompasses every member of the crowd, their faces flashing across the big screen in sheer joy. For “Lost and Found” Goulding sits on the stage steps with her guitarist, but the instrument appears to have stopped working. “This is a live show guys, so these kind of things happen. It sounds like shit. I’ve got to be honest, I don’t want to play it if it sounds like that,” she says. And then, as the guitar gets itself straightened out, “Oh thank goodness I don’t have to beatbox.”

Goulding’s game face is on for the entire expanse of the show, and precluding “Don’t Panic” she’s sipping on a cup labeled “Party Petrol.” A whirlwind of dance moves, Goulding is running, jumping, and hip shaking her way across the stage in black combat boots and high-waisted pleather shorts, as radiant and fiery as ever. She closes the main show with the one-two punch of “I Need Your Love” and “Burn” which has her jumping just as hard as the enthusiastic crowd, but the night’s not over yet. The pop chanteuse rocks an encore of “Anything Could Happen” in harmony with thousands of fans, before closing with the 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack hit “Love Me Like You Do” and a giant cloud of gold confetti.

Opener BROODS – a youthful brother-sister duo from New Zealand – were a spacey electro-pop breeze. From vulnerable, delicate vocals to bigger EDM beats, BROODS stacks texture on texture for an ethereal mix of synth and sweetness.

Catch the Delirium Tour in a city near you.

Ellie Goulding Set List:
Intro (Delirium)
Aftertaste
Holding on for Life
Goodness Gracious
Something in the Way You Move
Outside (Calvin Harris cover)
Devotion (acoustic)
I Do What I Love (video interlude)
Keep on Dancin’
Don’t Need Nobody
Heal (dance interlude)
Explosions
Lights (acoustic)
Army
Lost and Found (acoustic)
Figure 8
On My Mind
Codes
Don’t Panic
We Can’t Move to This
I Need Your Love (Calvin Harris cover)
Burn
Encore
Anything Could Happen
Love Me Like You Do