AURORA: A Magical Concert
by Julia Zgurzynski
I don’t listen to much music. I don’t have Spotify, Apple music or the like. I appreciate music of course, and I like making it. After all, I have sung in many choirs throughout my life, including two at Providence. Nevertheless, listening to music isn’t a necessary part of my daily life like it is for some people. However, one day while doing homework here in London, I felt that I would like to experience some kind of live music while I was here. The only music I do regularly listen to is the same YouTube playlist of Celtic folk music, and celtic sounding songs for when I do homework. It includes a few of my favorite Celtic Woman songs, and AURORA’s version of “Scarborough Fair.” I love that song, Aurora’s pure and sweet voice, and the mysterious lyrics amidst chords that swell and crash like dark ocean waves. Thus I began my search for a concert, using my favorite Youtube playlist. Celtic Woman was only performing in America, many of the other artists on that playlist were not performing at all, but AURORA was going to be performing in London. I am not usually impulsive, yet I bought a ticket right then, to go to a concert alone in a new city, to see an artist of whose songs I only knew a few. In the coming weeks I listened to playlists of AURORA songs as I did my homework, so as to prepare. After weeks of waiting, the day finally came. I took the tube to Brixton, and found the 02 Academy. I waited in line outside for almost an hour, then waited inside, then watched the opener, then waited again. I counted sheep to 100, and then back down again, and she still did not come on stage. Finally, after the long darkness, the lights flashed on, in an intense magenta, and Aurora was revealed in silhouette on a glowing orb. As she stepped out of her own shadow, the crowd’s cheers grew louder.
She began with the song “Heathens”, and I knew instantly that Aurora has a voice that needs to be heard live. Her voice pierced through the silence, with quiet intensity, and graceful flourishes. Of course, she had to sing “Runaway”, her most famous song, and it was every bit as perfect as I expected. The gentle melancholy I knew so well was present in the softly floating lines. The line “I saw piece of heaven/ Waitin’ in patience for me” was heavenly itself, as was the moment when the instruments come in with their bell-like rhythm. She played a variety of songs, including the soft and sensitive “Exist for Love” and the mysterious and celestial “Everything Matters”. One of the most wild and fun songs was “The Seed”. The beat was driving and loud, strobe lights flashed, and fake money rained down from the ceiling.
I think my favorite song was the last song, “Giving into the Love”, with its triumphant happy sound and Aurora’s wild and beautiful dancing. The beginning lyrics are certainly a bit pessimistic and resigned. “I’m losing my connection/I’m tired of the rules and your corrections.. But everybody cries and nobody comforts…And if I’m not loved/ I guess that I am cursed”. Then, there is reason for hope, “I never had the world so why change for it?”. Finally, the loud and joyful chant breaks out “giving into the love, the love, the love”. It illustrates what she said to the audience earlier in that show that, “despite whatever shit the world offers us, we are still capable of giving so much love”. It is a validating and hopeful sentiment. In her other speeches, Aurora proved to be a very sweet and comforting person, even from way up on the stage. In the beginning of the show she said, “Holy macaroni, you are very many people, you know that?… You are a very specifically beautiful pool of heads”. She has a childlike charm— her high voice, and her gauzy light pink dress, and barefoot dancing—yet she still is so wise. I am so glad I decided to go to her concert. That night, I left with my precious piece of Aurora money as a souvenir, and the feeling that there are more good and magical things in the world than I even know are there.
