Photo: Emma Viola Lilja
"After seven years of touring, I've finally developed stage fright," smiles a humbled Lykke Li with a piercing sideways glance. Judging by the way that her vision explodes onto the stage, we find that nigh on impossible to believe.
Her vulnerability is further exposed when she claims to be 'sick as a dog' tonight, but that seems entirely at odds with the fully-realised, immersive experience that overwhelms as she stomps and shakes across the Apollo stage.
As the jarring chords of 'I Never Learn'; welcome the band, black sheets drape the set and Lykke Li cuts a striking silhouette through the smoke and backlights. She reaches out to the howling of the first few rows of the 5,000 strong crowd as her anthems of heartache prove univeral and she turns misery on its head into celebration.
It's a rare sight to behold, when such artfully-crafted moments of introspection envelope such a vast crowd - but it's Lykke's cliché-free, black-clad witchcraft of a performance that elevates her into a realm of her own. Through the bittersweet 'Sadness Is A Blessing' and the raw-nerved 'No Rest For The Wicked', one can't help as feel as if she's grabbed you by the hand and taken you through the wardrobe.
"Have you ever heard of Drake?" she smiles, introducing her cover of 'Hold On, We're Going Home'. Staying fairly true to the original, Lykke Li adds her own sensual swagger - but drenches it in a great deal more heartbreaking tenderness. Absolutely breathtaking.
It's a night of extremes, from the unified sway as lighters and phones are raised aloft for 'Never Gonna Love Again', to the unhinged Nick Cave-esque menace of 'Rich Kid Blues' when all hell breaks loose on stage, amid the lightning of red strobes.
Ending the first set with a frantic outro of 'Get Some' featuring support act Eliot Sumner, you can feel your heart at the back of your throat as she mourns her way through 'Love Me Like I'm Not Made Of Stone' when screams of undying love beckon her back to the stage - an artist in her prime: raw, real and fearless.
Lykke Li played:
1. I Never Learn
2. Sadness Is A Blessing
3. Just Like A Dream
4. No Rest For The Wicked
5. Silent My Song
6. Hold On, We're Going Home (Drake cover)
7. Little Bit
8. Sleeping Alone
9. Gunshot
10. I Follow Rivers
11. Never Gonna Love Again
12. Rich Kid Blues
13. Get Some
Encore:
14. Love Me Like I’m Not Made Of Stone
15. Heart Of Steel
