Photo: Veronika Moore
Call it ‘Little Boots Syndrome’, call it media buzz, call it what you will, but the fact remains: it’s a wet, wild and windy Tuesday night and Shoreditch’s Cargo is sold out. There’s an odd mix of people about- possibly on the back of Ellie’s Jools Holland performance- men wearing non-ironic parkas mix with girls in pearls with L’Oreal hair, as the tension heightens. Ellie appears, with a three piece backing band. Immediately, a parka-man grumbles that “it looks like a band that the record company put together for her”. His grievances are soon quelled though. Ellie may look out of place- all sparkly singlet and denim shorts, but her voice is not. More acoustic than single ‘Under the Sheets’ would have listeners believe, there’s an anxiety and eagerness to her voice, coupled with fierce belief. A cover of Midlake’s ‘Roscoe’ begins quietly, before building to a storming climax. The set continues with ‘Under the Sheets’, and Ellie’s the most polished she’s been all night. This is where the star lies. Well, it would have been, if not for the encore. A delicate rendition of ‘I Wish I Stayed’ finds Goulding accompanied only by keyboards and acoustic guitar. And it’s magical. Her final track- ‘Starry Eyed’ almost seems superfluous. A ‘banger’ if there ever was one, it’s slick and naive at the same time. It’s Ellie’s shy confidence, backed by real talent that’ll carry her far, not media hype, or an appearance on a late-night Tuesday talk show.
