The Pure Heroine Tour was the first concert tour by New Zealand recording artist Lorde, in support of her debut studio album, Pure Heroine (2013). The tour began on 28 July 2013 in Byron Bay and ended on 1 November 2014 in Auckland. It played 103 shows across North America, Oceania, Europe, South America, and Asia.
Background[]
Lorde's first major show was at Splendour in the Grass on 28 July 2013, where she served as a last minute replacement to Frank Ocean, who had to cancel his appearance at the Australian music festival. Prior to this show, Lorde had only performed five public shows in small nightclubs and bars in New Zealand and Australia.
Lorde performed her first shows in the United States on 6 August at (Le) Poisson Rouge, a small nightclub in New York City, and on 8 August at Echoplex in Los Angeles. On 7 August 2013, Lorde announced North American Tour dates to support her debut album, Pure Heroine. Leading up to her September North American dates, she performed in Europe for the first time at a showcase at Clärchens Ballroom in Berlin on 10 September, and at White Heat @ Madame JoJo's in London on 18 September.
On 12 August 2013, Lorde announced via her official Twitter profile that her debut album Pure Heroine would be released on 27 September 2013. On 16 August, she announced an Australian Tour for October, with Oliver Tank supporting her as an opening act. Four shows were initially announced but due to overwhelming demand, extra Sydney and Melbourne shows were added on 19 August.
Tour Summary[]
Lorde embarked on her North America Tour on 24 September to support the release of the album, with Until the Ribbon Breaks serving as the opening act. She played eight shows at venues that had an average capacity of around 1,000 people, which included historic venues such as The Fillmore in San Francisco and Webster Hall in New York City. She performed at four festivals in the United States in December to close out the year, performing at bigger venues for the first time such as KeyArena in Seattle and Oracle Arena in Oakland.
Lorde performed at the 2014 Laneway Festival in late January/early February, which included five shows spread across Australia and New Zealand. Due to her appearance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on 26 January 2014, she was forced to pull out of the Auckland show that was scheduled for 27 January. Instead, she headlined her own show on the festival grounds on 29 January, with local acts Doprah and Watercolours serving as the opening acts. During the show, Lorde revealed to the crowd that she wrote the song Ribs on day of the 2013 Auckland Laneway Festival. She said "we started writing it on a Monday and then at 4pm came to Laneway... It's crazy to think that I'm playing it here after writing it a year ago with this very festival in mind".
Lorde returned to North America in March for 18 shows, with Lo-Fang supporting her as the opening act. Lorde played at larger venues than she did on her first North American Tour in 2013, including venues such as the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, The Fillmore Detroit, and the Fox Theater in Oakland. Lorde performed three sold out shows at Roseland Ballroom in New York City on from 10 March to 12 March, making her the last artist to perform there before Lady Gaga's seven show residency which closed out the venue.[13] After concluding her North American Tour on 27 March, Lorde performed at music festivals in South America, North America. This included Lollapalooza shows in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil and Coachella.
On 22 April 2014, Lorde announced that she was sick with a chest infection and general ill health, postponing the planned Australia Tour from April to July. Lorde performed three shows in the United Kingdom from 5 June to 7 June, this included opening for Arcade Fire at Earls Court. In July, Lorde performed her postponed Australia dates, and appeared in Asia for the first time with her appearance at Fuji Rock Festival on 27 July 2014. She followed that up with appearances at Lollapalooza and Osheaga Festival the following week. Lorde's Lollapalooza set was critically well received, with Billboard selecting it as the fifth-best performance of the festival, while Rolling Stone deemed it the best segment of the Chicago event. Lorde completed the Tour with a 24 show North American run and four final shows in New Zealand.
Set List[]
This setlist is representative of the show on 18 March 2014. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour. Lorde changed the covers as the tour progressed, including Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" and Bon Iver's "Heavenly Father".
- "Glory and Gore"
- "Biting Down"
- "Tennis Court"
- "White Teeth Teens"
- "Buzzcut Season"
- "Swingin Party" (The Replacement's cover)
- "Still Sane"
- "400 Lux"
- "Bravado"
- "Easy (Switch Screens)" (Son Lux cover)
- "Ribs"
- Hold My Liquor (Kanye West cover)
- "Royals"
- "Team"
- "A World Alone"