Erin Lecount – Forum II Upstairs
People were already dancing out of their seats before Erin LeCount had even appeared. Walking onstage, she opened her solo show with I BELIEVE; dancing freely across the stage as the crowd welcomed her to Australia for the first time.
'I can feel your energy and have felt it all day,' she told the audience. 'I'm so incredibly far from home, but I've never felt more welcome.' The Cinema, written about being driven towards madness by the pressure of choosing a career path, followed before her popular track AMERICAN DREAM.
Already describing it as one of her favourite shows she had ever played, Erin returned to the EP that changed her life. Introducing herself as dysfunctional and 'so overwhelmingly sensitive', she soared during I Am Digital, I Am Divine. The song led into Marble Arch, one of our absolute faves, with fans singing back every word.
Before Sweet Fruit, she reflected on playing her first London show only a year earlier to a room of 90 people. 'The amount of love and care people have shown my music in the last year has completely transformed my life,' she shared. By Mind The Gap, she admitted, 'My face physically hurts from smiling.'
Heaven gave the room one of its warmest moments. Erin explained that she often adds messages from family and friends into her songs for her own personal connection, and found a way to include the audience's singing into the self-described 'rare' love song. In contrast, Erin then moved towards heartbreak at the centre of ALICE. Describing it as her favourite song, she stepped into the crowd and worked her way across the room with a captivating performance of the song that introduced us to her music.
'Have we got some anger in us?' she asked before Godspeed. Of all the songs performed, this one was by far the most moving and powerful and the audience exploded with cheers, before 808 HYMN kept everyone moving.
A dramatic backing track introduced DON'T YOU SEE ME TRYING?, as Erin read a piece she had written in advance for the occasion. She spoke about being further from home than ever before, touring for less than a year and refusing to take the opportunity for granted. Touring 'gives me purpose and peace,' she told the audience, before explaining that the song came from a time when she could not see the world clearly and had pulled the blindfold around herself too tightly.
Calling MACHINE GHOST one of her favourite songs she has ever made, Erin was met by fans screaming 'it hurts to stand' back at her repeatedly. She closed with Silver Spoon – the song that introduced her music to many in the room. 'Oh my God, I really don't want to leave the stage, but I have one more song for you,' she said, ending her first Australian show with a song about loving someone despite growing up in completely different worlds.
Performing to two sold-out crowds at the Forum, it was a memorable introduction to Erin Lecount's live music, and we hope that she plans to come back really, really soon.