October 2019, Lindsey Stirling was set to play at the Eventim Apollo in London. This was her only UK date during her European tour, so fans from around the country journeyed to the capital for a night of music and wonder to witness this unique musician who merges violin playing with electric/dubstep to create something magical.
Speelburg were announced as support for the show. They performed as a three-piece on the night, but upon further research the band is actually singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Noah Sacré who performs live with session musicians creating an alt-indie kinda vibe for their performances. Throughout the set the band had the most colourful lighting, which suited the tone of their sound well.
In between songs there was an interesting use of robotic vocal distortions to talk to the crowd, which I’ve not seen much of before but it worked well. There was a groovy disco vibe to a few of the songs which was only made stronger by the funky sounding bass tone.
Noah shone with his beautiful falsettos highs to his voice, taking centre stage to show his talent. He mixed the highs with harmonies done via a mic loop which was unique and different to hear from a band like this. He was very gracious, thanking the crowd throughout their set and saying how he’ll be at the merch table to meet everyone stating “Theres 3,000 of you in here so that’s 3,000 new best friends” which was very sweet of him to say.
Speelburg were not the support band you’d expect with Lindsey, but thinking about it I’d struggle to pick someone to open for her due to her unique nature, but the band warmed up the crowd extremely well for what was to come.
So where to begin with writing about Lindsey Stirlings performance. In all my time as a photographer I’ve never photographed an event anything like this, the theatrical extent to this show as incredible. The crowd were hypnotised by her from beginning to end. The show was dramatic, fast paced, enchanting and purely magical to see.
There was a varied difference between each person in the event, there was everything from goths to cosplayers to young children attending the show. Lindsey truly has a vast fan base and all were out to see her one and only UK show.
For her live show Lindsey had a band behind her on stage, this included a backing drummer and guitarist/pianist who both throughout the set performed to a high level and really helped form the show. In between every few songs she’d stand up to a mic and address the crowd, this created a super personal intimate feeling to the show, especially when she talked about her mental health issues and anorexia. This made us really connect with her and be able to truly understand the process that goes into making her music. Lindsey described her mental health journey as “light and dark” stating that “you can’t scientifically take away darkness but you can add light” which is a powerful metaphor to describe something so personal to her.
There was a high level of stage production to her show. Combining a huge screen behind the dancers, more light than you could physically count and an impressive circular stage suspension prop which she’d walk in and out of and be lifted up in, her show was like nothing I’d ever seen before. Honestly breathtaking.
