Toronto – Ellie Goulding‘s stock has been on a slow but steady climb over the past year. The electro-acoustic siren first captured some hearts last year with her dance floor track Starry Eyed. A few average singles (The Writer, Guns and Horses) later, She seemed destined for a comfortable Marina/Little Boots level of success before releasing her cover of Elton John’s Your Song last fall. The cover was pretty much perfect – take an entirely famous song, somehow completely make it your own and then release a video highlighting how cute and adorable you are. Suddenly Ellie Goulding was everywhere. One sxsw trip, royal wedding performance and SNL appearance later and it would seem Ellie Goulding is on the doorsteps of mega stardom. Which brings us to Monday night at the Kool Haus.
A packed all ages crowd anxiously awaited the blonde starlet after the Bag Raiders set. Armed with a three piece band, Ellie Goulding took the stage shortly after nine and played an eighty minute set that spanned her entire discography. The show could be broken up into three acts with the first being an energetic beginning (featuring Under the Sheets) to get the crowd in the proper mood. One of the things i love about pop crowds is that they are just ready to rock. The audience started dancing from the first notes of the first song and rarely let up. The beginning was followed up by the acoustic / intimate middle portion which saw Ellie strum a few acoustic tunes, tell a few anecdotes and delivering her hit single Your Song. I wonder how many people knows it was a cover. It didn’t matter, people loved it. It’s a powerful track and one of those cool lighter in the air moments, only it’s 2011, so instead of lighters, you have a bunch of iphones trying to record the track (to poor effect). The band took the stage shortly after and the show went into the triumphant hits filled (Lights, Starry Eyed) third act. Needless to say, the crowd ate it up.
As a performer, Ellie is pretty content on letting her voice and music do the talking. She’ll frequently play on her guitar, and help with the drums and on a few tracks, show a few dance moves. Her anecdotes are charming and she plays the show with a certain “wow, I’m actually doing this!” enthusiasm that makes it hard not to like. Going forward it will be interesting to see if she goes full pop or continue to straddle the electric/acoustic folk line she has drawn for herself. Either way, if she keeps on writing catchy tracks, no one’s going to care.
Guns and Horses by Ellie Goulding