'Show-stopping', 'confessional space', stripping down - Lorde's world tour kicks off
The Texas arena show is the first of more than 50 that the New Zealand singer will perform on her biggest ever world tour. NZ gets its turn in February, 2026.
New Zealand singer Lorde has kicked off her much-hyped Ultrasound world tour at Texas arena, the Moody Centre, filled with 15,000 fans.
The setlist was stacked with favourites from all four of her albums and a rare performance of 'No Better'.
After a bunch of surprise parties and a raw and revealing Rolling Stone interview, the musician (whose real name is Ella Yelich-O'Connor) dropped her much-anticipated fourth album, Virgin, earlier this year.
The 17 September Austin concert is the first of more than 50 stops covering North America, Europe, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
Lorde sang 'Hammer' from a raised platform as a triangular beam of light shined on her.
Supplied / Universal Music
The 28-year-old opened the show with songs from albums Virgin, Pure Heroine and Melodrama, including 'Hammer' and the breakthrough hit 'Royals'.
In the second act, Lorde unbuttoned her jeans during 'Current Affairs' to reveal a pair of Calvin Klein boxers, reported the Austin newspaper Statesman.
"Austin wants the real," Lorde told the crowd.
Carrying on with boxer briefs and a bright red T-shirt, Lorde launched into 'No Better', which came as a surprise for fans - she hasn’t sung it live since 2014. Capturing a close-up shot of her on stage was a videographer, who apparently held her mic at one point while she danced freely.
After unbuttoning her jeans during 'Current Affairs', Lorde carried on the second act in her briefs.
Supplied / Universal Music
Melodrama fan-favourite 'Supercut' was performed with Lorde running on a treadmill "like it was a marathon of a relationship gone wrong", the Statesman wrote.
Lorde, they reported, transformed the arena into a "confessional space".
"Watching her oscillate between fetal position on a lifted platform and androgynous 'GRWM' energy was like witnessing someone test new versions of themselves in real time."
A videographer was there to capture all the intimate moments for fans so it could be put on the big screens.
Supplied / Universal Music
In the third act, Lorde re-enacted her ‘Man of the Year’ music video (topless with duct tape across her chest). The Statesman reported Lorde said it was her life mission to "keep revealing herself" to the audience.
She then wore a vest of lights as she came down to the audience pit for 'David', "parting the audience as she walked through the arena", wrote online magazine Consequence.
The Austin arena had a capacity of 15,000.
Supplied / Universal Music
Lorde's "show-stopping stage presence", as described by Rolling Stone, wrapped up with Pure Heroine’s ‘Ribs’ from the centre of the crowd.
Lorde debuted the track ‘What Was That’ in April at an impromptu set at Washington Square Park, sharing new music for the first time since 2021. The next month she popped up at a Lorde-themed club night in Sydney for a boogy.
And, at the end of May, on the eve of the Aotearoa Music Awards, a cryptic invitation lured Kiwi fans to a late night session in the loo of an inner-city YMCA. There, she pulled out a lighting case from one of the toilet cubicles, turning it into a make-shift stage and serving unreleased singles - 'Current Affairs', 'Ribs' and 'Broken Glass'.
This will be the singer's biggest world tour. The North American leg runs through into October. She will play Auckland's Spark Arena on Wednesday 11 February followed by Wolfbrook Arena in Christchurch on Friday, 13 February. After the NZ shows, Lorde will perform in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Lorde last played in New Zealand in 2023 at the Outer Fields Festival at Western Springs in Auckland.
