“O-H” Lorde screamed to a student-heavy crowd at Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center on Saturday night. “I-O” echoed off the walls of the arena, much to the delight of the 21-year-old New Zealander.
“Ohio, that is no f---ing joke!” Lorde said with a laugh. “I can only imagine it at a sports game or something.”
At the Columbus stop of her Melodrama World Tour, Lorde played a mixture of hits and fan-favorites from her debut album, Pure Heroine, along with the bulk of last year’s Melodrama.
The singer-songwriter is known for her quirky dance moves, and the crowd jumped along with her all throughout the show. “Green Light,” “Royals” and “Perfect Places” generated particular energy from the stands.
The highlight of the show, however, was when Lorde brought the mood down and created an intimate setting with the thousands of fans who came to see her.
“I wrote this album so personally,” she said, “And I didn’t know if it would mean anything to anyone else.” Lorde went on to explain that it meant so much to her to hear fans in a city so far away from her own singing her deepest, darkest emotions back to her.
“You have to be who you are meant to be,” Lorde said over the cheers, “You have to be the overreactor. You have to be the hopeless romantic. And if you’re me, you have to be a writer.”
Lorde then launched into “Writer in the Dark,” a stripped-down ballad about a failed romantic endeavor and the long-lasting effects of falling in love.
That was such an integral part of the show because of the transparency and self-awareness that Lorde’s words were dripping with.
I think as writers, we feel things deeper than a lot of other people do because in a way, it’s our job to do so. When you’re writing, the end goal is to make somebody feel something — to make people laugh or cry or feel as if they are understood, for a moment. That is exactly what Lorde’s words did in that room Saturday.
Lorde followed “Writer In The Dark” with a powerful rendition of “Liability,” a tale of a girl who feels as if she’s too much for anyone to handle. “Liability” makes you feel as if Lorde ripped a page out of everyone’s angsty, teenage diaries and released a polished, intuitive sum to the world.
Lorde’s big, well-rounded voice can carry at a venue of any size, but that’s not what filled the seats. I went to see Lorde play because I wanted to feel the sort of connection that forms only between an audience and a performer who writes his or her own music in a very raw but skilled way.
As I watched a woman of my age captivate tens of thousands of people by telling her stories, it made me feel as if we aren’t so different after all. We all love and we all hurt, but it takes something special to bring us out of our heads long enough to see it.
Lorde was born to write songs and to be on stage, and on Saturday, she let Columbus know it.
Halle Weber is a sophomore studying journalism with a focus in news and information at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Did you see Lorde in Columbus? Let Halle know by tweeting at her @HalleWeber13.
