REVIEW: Aurora shining bright

I can honestly say that the Concorde 2 has done it again and booked a truly world-class act in the guise of 20-year-old Norwegian wood-nymph Aurora Aksnes (or just Aurora to the rest of us).

Remember that glorious John Lewis ‘Man On The Moon’ Christmas advert last year? Well the young lady singing (a ballad of the Oasis track ‘Half The World Away’) in that was none other than this Aurora. People couldn’t get enough of that love and warmth. I mean, the video on YouTube has nearly 25 million plays!

Aurora is, I think, the only act I have ever seen live where I wanted her to keep talking in between songs. She makes me laugh because she is so lovingly quirky, just like a younger version of Björk.

During this concert she referred to these talks by the Norwegian word ‘preik’, which translates to English as ‘pulpit’. So the young lassie had been preaching to us all evening and we couldn’t get enough of it.

According to her setlist, we had a mere four ‘preiks’ but it felt like more.

The backdrop for this gig was a woodland painting, so it felt that Aurora (sporting her new kimono that she’d just purchased in Brighton) and her four chums were playing to us from a clearing in the forest.

It’s that Scandinavian back-to-nature thing, I guess.

We were treated to 16 delightful songs tonight, eleven of which (including the new single ‘Conqueror’, plus ‘Running With The Wolves’, ‘Warrior’ ‘Under The Water’ and ‘I Went Too Far’) were taken from her chart-smashing debut album All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend. Suffice it to say that I purchased the deluxe version when it came out.

Two other tracks played, namely ‘In Boxes’ and ‘Little Boy In The Grass’, appear on her Running With The Wolves EP. There was also a performance of her excellent ‘Under Stars’ single. One ballad, ‘Animal Soul’, was also gratefully received, as I think you can only locate a live version of this song on Soundcloud.

All-in-all this appreciative, full-capacity crowd were enthralled by Aurora’s set and banter, especially when she said that Brighton is her favourite city and that she will come back again with new songs.

To find out more about Aurora’s music visit www.aurora-music.com.

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