What’s in a name? In Ellie Goulding’s case, a time capsule. Her very mention conjures rose-tinted memories of the early 2010s, when we recorded each house party with a Facebook album, everything Calvin Harris touched turned to gold, and Camden was just beginning to lose its cool.
Ten years down the line, and NW1 is experiencing something of a renaissance, in no small part thanks to KOKO. A former dive bar in a dilapidated amphitheatre, a £70 million renovation following a fire in 2020 has seen it reborn, a veritable phoenix from the ashes.
If Camden is experiencing a renaissance, so is Ellie Goulding. She’s tempered her gentle electropop with a more vociferous sound that takes after the vogue for pseudo Eighties dance. And though her own take on the genre may lack the erudition of Harry Styles – you know, the one that earned him a Grammy – it revels in a kind of kitsch that takes genuine skill to pull off.
Her soulful, childlike purity of tone was on glorious display last night; a combination of Robyn’s edge and Kylie’s verve that reverberated with bell-like clarity against KOKO’s renovated red walls.
Goulding is one of those artists whose back catalogue you forgot was actually hers and as she reeled off hit after hit, the message was resoundingly clear: this isn’t just someone who’s punctuated airwaves and soundtracks for the past 10 years; it’s someone with a depth and versatility that belies (or perhaps reinforces) her popular appeal.
Talent alone doesn’t make a good concert, and Goulding knows this well. While poncier artists operate under the false impression that playing to the gallery is inimical to integrity, Goulding once again made a case for being the ultimate crowd pleaser.
Her connection to the audience was electric as she balanced new bangers such as the thrilling Like A Saviour with her classics: Outside (hi again, Calvin Harris), Love Me Like You Do, and Burn – a sensational closer prefaced with an extremely polite demand to turn your phones off, please, and live in the moment, thank you.
She treated us to unreleased singles (Higher Than Heaven, a fabulous new track off her upcoming album of the same name) while relishing in her old school anthems – and her killer outfit.
The new KOKO was destined for Ellie Goulding. It’s plush and it’s swanky and the best venue in London. And last night, Ellie Goulding put on the best show.
