The 10 Most Magical Moments From Lorde’s Melodrama Tour

1. 
   
   When she began the party with “Sober”
   
   
   
   
   
   A crew of six dancers accompanied Lorde while in the night, and so they were front and center once the show began, as Lorde launched into “Sober” while shrouded in shadows. It was a real tease, yet if she finally emerged from the back of the stage and into the spotlight — at the tongue-twisting lyric, “Jack and Jill get fucked up and possessive if they get dark” — the crowd went absolutely nuts.
   
   
   
   
   



2. 
   
   When she pulled off a wardrobe change in front of the whole arena
   
   
   
   
   
   Generally artists will go backstage or below the stage for their mid-concert wardrobe changes, nevertheless not Ella. In a moment that felt like a real show of vulnerability, Lorde capped off “Ribs” by heading to the back of the stage to change her outfit in front of the full crowd. She slipped off her shoes first, then her pants, standing in nothing nevertheless a sparkly bra and high-waisted short shorts because the camera stayed fixed on her. While the crowd cheered her on, she snapped a flowing black skirt around her waist, pulled on a matching long-sleeved crop top, and then returned to the face of the stage, staring intensely into the crowd as if to mention, “Yeah, you know this dramatic AF look was worth the wait.” (Because yes, it fully was.)
   
   
   
   
   






3. 
   
   When she sang the outro to “The Louvre”
   
   
   
   
   
   Track No. 4 on Melodrama ends with a spellbinding, Cranberries-esque, minute-long guitar outro. In concert, Lorde let her voice do the outro, singing the guitar notes whenever she was hoisted airborne by her six dancers, laying parallel to the floor. How, you ask? IDK, gotta be witchcraft or something.
   
   
   
   
   



4. 
   
   When “Yellow Flicker Beat” got hard arrangement as well as a lil’ Lorde zinger
   
   
   
   
   
   In one of the show’s boldest moments, a giant, transparent rectangle was suspended airborne with a dancer literally sliding indoor of it. Not gonna lie, it was slightly anxiety-inducing, however that properly complemented the heavier, more eerie arrangement of “Yellow Flicker Beat.” At the end of it, Lorde instructed them crowd that she wrote the song a couple of years prior, although it’s been a lot of fun to sing recently because “it’s a song about bad people getting their comeuppance. As well as a lot of bad boys getting their comeuppance this year, huh?!” Zing!
   
   
   
   
   



5. 
   
   When she gave each person goosebumps with “Writer in the Dark”
   
   
   
   
   
   “This is such a cute room, holy moly,” Lorde marveled before a beautifully sparse rendition of “Writer in the Dark.” And that was before the full arena was spontaneously lit up with cellphone lights. The ballad got one of the primary applause breaks of the night, along with served as a segue into a more intimate portion of the show throughout which Lorde sat down and had a long talk with her fans.
   
   
   “How you been? Are you dating anyone? Got any crushes? I feel I'd like to catch up with you all one-on-one,” she mentioned. She shouted out Melodrama co-writer and co-producer Jack Antonoff (“Hi, Jacky! Is this crazy or what?! We wrote all these songs and right now we’re at the Staples Center!”), And then she thanked fans for seeing her “really clearly” and allowing to present her true self. And what is that true self, you could ask? “The vivid dreamer, the overreacter, the fucking wild dancer, the teller of stories,” she said.
   
   
   
   
   



6. 
   
   When she covered Frank Ocean’s “Solo”
   
   
   
   
   
   This has become a new mainstay on the Melodrama tour, and it’s truly a cute moment. “This is a song I really love. It’s a song about being alone, which I realized lately is probably my main go to genre of music,” Lorde mentioned before diving into one of Ocean’s standout Blonde cuts. The cover properly fit in with the rest of the setlist; it basically sounds like a Melodrama outtake.
   
   
   
   
   






7. 
   
   When she changed into a pink frilly outfit before “Supercut”
   
   
   
   
   
   Right after an explosive rendition of “Sober II (Melodrama),” Lorde retreated backstage for another (this time, private) outfit change. This time, she emerged in a pink, frilly top with matching pants that was basically the full opposite of the dramatic, all-black ensemble she was wearing just a couple minutes prior. The way her outfit swayed as she jumped along to “Supercut” and reveled in being “wild and fluorescent” was stunning.
   
   
   
   
   



8. 
   
   When she made it rain confetti at the end of “Green Light”
   
   
   
   
   
   Before launching into “Green Light,” Lorde warned the crowd, “This isn’t one that we can fuck around for. This song requires a special sort alchemy. All of joy and all of pain and all of pettiness and all of the jealousy, and all of the fucking dancing.” Cue an aptly exuberant rendition of “Green Light” that culminated in a shower of confetti plus several thousand breathless bodies clamoring for more.
   
   
   
   
   



9. 
   
   When she broke out a MPC for her encore
   
   
   
   
   
   Soon after a couple of minutes of piercing screams, Lorde returned to the stage for a more subdued encore, while in which she broke out a MPC machine for “Loveless” and the unreleased song “Precious Metals.”
   
   
   
   
   



10. 
    
    And whenever she made us all feel like we were on her “Team”
    
    
    
    
    
    The coda to her three-song encore was the throwback hit “Team,” while in which Lorde ventured down to the front row for hugs and high-fives. Somehow, she made it back onstage unscathed, smiling profusely in the show’s final, magical moment.