Ellie Goulding at Tripod 30th November 2010

Review: Ros Madigan

The snow was still falling on this Tuesday night as a capacity crowd made their way to Tripod to see the final date of the re-released ‘Bright Eyes’ album tour. This final date caps off a very successful year which saw Ellie establish herself on the charts, culminating in her winning the BBC’s sound of 2010.

The crowd was a sell out and packed to the rafters leaving the memories of the earlier ice age firmly outside. The crowd(mostly ladies) chant her name over and over again until she appears on stage and begins a drumming intro that whips this young crowd up into a frenzy. She plays her own personal drum kit, she bangs away for a few moments but ultimately her playing the drums seems rather pointless as all she does is mirror the existing drummers drum patterns. A huge LED screen to the rear of the stage is used impressively in the opening few moments, charging the crowd up with each flash.

‘Under the sheets’ begins as the crowd join in. Both the crowd and Ellie seem to be effortlessly together during this song. Great opening number which also led to great crowd involvement. This great crowd notion was to be dispelled soon after as ‘This Love’ started to play. The crowd start to chat sparingly as this beautiful song plays out. The vast crowd around myself seems to rather talk about their iPhone and what ‘Oísin, Max and Romeo’ are doing later. For her next song, a cover of Midlake’s ‘Roscoe’ she begins by saying “We’re happy to be in Dublin on the final night of our tour”. The song didn’t really do her much justice. The lyrics were hard to decipher, leading you to think that she should probably stick to her own blend of electronica and pop. An ok cover of what really was ever an ok song.

‘Guns & Horses’ involves the whole crowd again as they sing along in full voice. I had hoped that the LED lights would come into play again to add an extra element to this song but instead a rather simple visual loops over and over. Then begins a weird montage of Ellie talking about herself, coupled with shots of her touring. The band are all off stage at this point as she comes on by herself to sing a song from her forthcoming album entitled ‘The End’. The intro for this song lasted an eternity as only a few people knew the words. This song, that she performed by herself, simply wasn’t good enough.

The next song ‘Wish I Stayed’ was similarly forgettable but did not merit the pure ignorance of the local crowd that would have left you embarrassed if inside Tripod. Once the song ended Ellie even remarked on the beautiful lyrics of the song and that maybe the crowd should try and listen to them. Her words of advice didn’t work as she played her next song to the same disinterest from the crowd. Her next song was a very special cover of Elton John’s ‘Your Song’. Near the end of this classic cover she managed to silence most of the gossip-talking crowd.

Her next song turned to out to be the stand out track of the night. ‘The Writer’ provided us with flawless vocals, beautifully woven lyrics and a thumping chorus. ‘Your Biggest Mistake’ is accompanied with a pre motivational speech from Ellie to the crowd that people don’t seem too bothered with. ‘Salt Skin’ provides a memorable moment as Ellie playfully squats over a security guys head unbeknown to the security guard himself. She then introduces another drum section at the start of the song that doesn’t make much sense. Only to try once more at the end of the song with the bands drummer by her side doing most of the work. It begs the question why couldn’t the drummer just have his own time to shine without Ellie having to be involved in everything. ‘Lights’ is next as the electronica makes a welcome return.

She exits the stage and the crowd takes this quiet opportunity to talk between themselves once more. After about 5minutes they realise an encore is due and finally cheer for a return. Ellie immediately returns to the stage as if she was waiting for a sign from the crowd. She introduces us to the band and treats us to another new song ‘Human’. This new song was a great little tune, which bodes well for her new album scheduled for next year. The song ends and she remarks, “I need people to feel more sexy”. With that ‘Starry Eyed’ kicks in and the crowd who have been evidently waiting for this track all night join in finally. The song is accompanied with a brilliantly intricate LED light show. The crowd are in full voice with even the VIP people upstairs, who didn’t look to the stage once during the earlier songs joining in. This song was truly electric and as it ends the crowd scream and yelp to volumes that The Beatles hysteria once produced.

Ellie Goulding provided us with a stellar and engaging performance, leading you to think she will be around for quite some time to come. The performance on the night was marred a small bit by a rather rude and childish crowd. An enjoyable gig none the less, so now the only thing to find out is, ‘Where are Oísin, Max and Romeo now?’

1. Intro
2. Under The Sheets
3. This Love
4. Roscoe (Midlake cover)
5. Guns & Horses
6. The End
7. Wish I Stayed
8. Your Song (Elton John cover)
9. The Writer
10. Your Biggest Mistake
11. Salt Skin
12. Lights
Encore:
13. Human
14. Starry Eyed