Review: Aurora at Fremantle Prison

Aurora at Fremantle Prison
w/ Odd Luke, Hannah Brewer
Thursday, February 6, 2024

Some acts come with such a fierce live reputation that they demand to be seen in concert.

As a first-time Aurora (re)viewer, there was plenty to be excited about. Fremantle Prison has proven an excellent venue so far this year, and given her reputation, the show had sold out long in advance as fairies, ferals, and more tattoos than you’ve seen outside of a tatt fest made their way in. 

From the opening moments of her set—a completely beguiling visual intro on the big screen back of the stage—it was obvious this was a night not to miss. Arriving with her seamless five-piece band and looking every bit like the Norwegian goddess we were expecting, she eased into Churchyard, and when the beat dropped halfway through, the crowd was immediately transfixed.

It didn’t take her long to make friends either. With Perth’s heatwave showing no sign of easing up, Aurora turned the electric fans onstage around in an effort to cool the diehards down front (this in spite of the fact that she was on fire dancing non-stop all night).

“I need to move these fans because I feel like I should share,” she offered, before saving a beetle caught in the cords. “Thanks for coming to prison for me!”

Pleasantries were out of the way. Good.

For all her electronic-pop anthems, Aurora is equally aware of her Scandinavian folk roots. In a surprise move following the hectic start, she wound things back immediately on the second and third tracks, Infections of a Different Kind and The River. Pared back compared to its studio counterpart, the latter celebrated her amazing backing vocalists in a largely a cappella highlight.

Dedicated to “all the emotional motherfuckers” in the crowd, All is Soft Inside featured some euphoric falsettos before the first of guitarist Fredrik Svabø’s wondrous solos made way for a fidgety synth outro. Svabø really turned it up for Some Type of Skin with the huge shred to finish a match for the big choruses ringing out around the prison courtyard.

Runaway was the night’s campfire singalong and made way for a mid-set acoustic session. In a fitting parallel to the venue, Aurora spoke with raw humility about her difficulties growing up and the prison-like environment she found school to be ahead of Dreams. 

And then came the night’s real fireworks as Heathens and The Dark Dresses Lightly completely exceeded their studio counterparts. As her backing singers came forward like pagan princesses to form a triptych on stage, on the visuals there was Aurora licking blood off a giant ritual dagger in slow motion. It was evocative, to say the least.

The Seed was equally as big but even more moving (“When the last tree has fallen
And the rivers are poisoned, You cannot eat money, oh no”). Dedicated to any and all Indigenous peoples in attendance, it was a stirring emotional peak and a perfect segue into the cathartic dance-off of Starvation and Giving In to the Love to finish the main set.

Earlier we were treated to some Glaswegian pop care of Odd Luke, a curious proposition on key tracks Punches and Disconnect mixing in uptempo beats with pitch-shifting change-ups, while upcoming Western Sydney prospect Hannah Brewer was more dynamic on her potty-mouthed anthems such as the popular Rumspringa.

The roar for more suggested Aurora had some unfinished business at 9:15pm, and to be fair, there were a couple of key omissions (frankly, the only thing that would’ve made this set better was another hour of the faves we missed out on, from Queendom and Your Blood to Half the World Away).

But the two-song encore still managed to trace the breadth of everything that came before it, as Aurora danced wildly with a rainbow flag throughout catchy highlight Cure for Me, before bringing intimacy to a piercing Invisible Wounds, piano to the fore and crowd in fine voice.

In the end, words don’t quite do justice to the magic of an Aurora live show. Her otherworldly image; the earthy, cerebral dancing; a sparkling production that has been perfected over years of touring habitually. All these and more have quickly created her a reputation as one of the world’s must-see live acts, and she can’t return soon enough.

HARVEY RAE

Photos by Stu McKay