The ticket windows were plastered with “Sorry, sold out,” signs, and thousands stood in a line snaking around the House of Blues Sunday night. The rain didn’t matter. They were here to see BØRNS, the electro-alternative star behind hits like “10,000 Emerald Pools,” “Electric Love” and “Sweet Dreams.”
The show featured two openers. First was Mikky Ekko, best known for his song “Stay” with Rihanna. After Ekko was Charlotte Cardin, a young singer-songwriter from Montreal, whose bluesy voice was reminiscent of Amy Winehouse.
Smaller venues like the House of Blues give fans the chance to see their favorite artists as real people, rather than celebrities. Fans pushed against the general admission barricade, just in reach of the stage.
Ekko and Cardin seemed to thrive in the intimate setting. During a break in Cardin’s set, someone yelled from the crowd, “I like your pants!” Cardin acknowledged this comment with a laugh and a “thank you,” then continued: “They’re actually my sister’s pants. I feel like she’d want me to tell you that.”
Mikky Ekko went so far as to climb off the stage, through the media pit and straight into the ecstatic crowd. Before he waded in farther, he lifted his face and chest to the orange lights illuminating the audience. For a moment, it seemed he might crowd surf, but then he straightened back up and obliged to selfies. He finished his set engulfed in the throng.
Each artist mingled with fans next to the bar after their set.
Compared to his personable openers, BØRNS didn’t pursue an intimate connection: He was there to show his art, not interact with fans. Each song faded to dark silence until the lights returned with the pulse of the following track.
Even if BØRNS wasn’t a particularly giving stage presence, the audience was feeling generous. Several objects made their way to the stage. First, a large pink flower crown, which BØRNS wore for a track before hanging it on a mic stand. Then it was a single red rose. About halfway through the show, someone passed up a black and white drawing of him. BØRNS propped it up on a drum to face the crowd for the rest of the night.
The lighting design was just as high-energy as the music. Strobes in pinwheel shapes shone every shade of neon out to the crowd. Blue, purple and magenta lights bathed the backdrop of fern-like plants.
BØRNS closed the show with his hit “Electric Love.” While the ground floor had swayed the whole night, hundreds of hands now shot up to wave in the air, silhouetted against orange strobes. BØRNS tipped the mic out for the crowd to sing the last chorus, but he didn’t need to. They probably could have been heard from the other side of Fenway Park.
Photos and review by Riley Robinson.
