Ellie Goulding at the Key Arena
It feels like Goulding has come such a long way since the first time I saw her in 2011 at Outside Lands Festival. Even though she was well known in Europe “Lights” took off in the U.S. almost a year later. After that she has only been climbing straight to the top with the release of “Halcyon” in 2012, which gave us her first mega-hit “Anything Could Happen”. She slowly progressed from that smaller stage to Arena shows by her third full length record “Delirium”. I’ve been happy to see her every time as the venues got larger and the songs more pop.
She was in Seattle headlining one of the nights at Bumbershoot last September and now she’s back at the Key Arena as part of her world tour. This was going to be a proper pop show with large screens playing stimulating visuals in the background and dancers on stage. Ellie came out and she still surrounded everything with her talent and vibrant aura. She started strong with new tunes including “Holding On For Life”, “Something in the Way You Move”, and her collaboration with Calvin Harris, “Outside”.
The middle of the set was dedicated to slower songs as she came out with a white dress barefoot and sang “Explosions”, probably my favorite song which I didn’t expect to hear. Then she was joined by her guitarist and took a seat on the steps in front of the stage and did an acoustic “Lights”. She went on to share that it’s weird for her to speak in public something most people don’t think since she’s on stage. She’s actually quite a shy person which makes her even sweeter to listen to. “This is for the person that has been there always and is really special to me”, and played “Army”, while photographs were displayed in the background of her and her best friends.
After a couple more slower songs she changed again and was joined with her dancers for “On My Mind”. As she leaned over to take a sip out of a cup that had a pink sticker on it she smiled and let us in on the joke as one was labeled water and the other party petrol. You have to make sure you don’t take a big sip of alcohol thinking it’s water, so I get it.
She told us that Seattle is one of her favorite places in the States as it was the first place she came to in the states when she was younger all alone. “I got on a plane by myself and I’ve been in love with it ever since. I feel like you’ve adopted me in a way”. She played “We Can’t Move to This”, and then her first collaboration with Harris “I Need Your Love”.
“This is the part where I usually tell the audience to put their phones away and to be in the moment with me. You have been so good tonight I have barely seen any phones out tonight and I really enjoy that I don’t have to even say it. Let me see your hands up and let’s try to keep them up for my last song.” Her last song was “Burn” and every one kept their hands up for the duration and sang along while dancing to the beat.
She came back for her encore with “Anything Could Happen” and ended with her major hit “Touch me like You Do”. Goulding has a captivating voice it’s hard not to pay attention to every word she says. She can play an acoustic song and bring tears to your eyes and the next moment make you dance your heart out. She deserves all the success that will follow her in the future as she uniquely combines a distinctive voice, writes her songs, and appreciates her fans.