NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
When talented Norwegian singer/songwriter/activist/fairy Aurora announced just two shows in the United States for 2021, I knew I had to be at Terminal 5 on November 14th. Having attended every one of her NYC shows since 2017, I’ve had the pleasure of watching her grow and evolve as an artist. Besides having a beautiful voice with incredible vocal control, her songwriting and ability to completely transform any cover that she does into her own song makes her, in my opinion, one of the most talented young musicians in pop today. In addition, her personality brings joy into any room. If anyone were the embodiment of a Disney Princess, Aurora is it!
For the show, fans had flown in from all over the country to attend. By the time doors opened, the line had wrapped around four city blocks! And I don’t mean the short ones! There were many fans with face paint reminiscent of the last tour. Many had also attended the meet and greet/poster signing at Rough Trade earlier in the day.
The first opener of the night was Brooklyn-based artist Sean McVerry, who also opened for Aurora back in 2019. Short set but fun!
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I had been following SHAED since their 2018 hit “Trampoline”. Lead vocalist Chelsea Lee and twins Max and Spencer Ernst (who is married to Chelsea) have accumulated quite a following with their brand of electronic pop. Incredibly, Chelsea was performing while 29 weeks pregnant!!
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When Aurora took the stage, it was quite a change from her last tour. Gone were the dancers and the only accompaniment were a guitar, some keyboards, and a bit of drums. It was almost an acoustic show. With guitarist and incredible backup singer Silja Sol leaving to focus on her solo career, it left quite a void. Her voice and Aurora’s voice sounded so good together that the combination was hard to replace. Instead the male band members sang some of the harmonies and vocal tracks were used at other points. But Aurora’s vocals are so good and she has such incredible control that it’s hard to argue that the sound was not still amazing.
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The setlist was definitely a bit more mellow but represented a good balance of all her records. A couple of my favorites (Animal and It Happened Quiet) were missing and, again, I think it may be because the amazing harmonies that Silja provided may not have been re-written. But Aurora looked so happy to be on stage and playing in front of the capacity crowd. She received a number of gifts from fans including a cicada (we all know she loves bugs)!!
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She closed the main set with her latest single “Giving Into the Love” and a nice encore with a heart pounding and foot stomping rendition of “Daydreamer”. At the end of the Twitch stream, she also announced a 2022 US tour, including a stop in Central Park Summerstage on June 4th! Get your tickets while you can!!
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