After her legendary second win at Eurovision Song Contest in May, Loreen is now on her European tour celebrating the win. She took to the stage in front of the home audience at Stockholm’s sold-out Cirkus and delivered a show filled with such high emotions the front row were in tears by the encores.
Loreen has been known to make the live arrangements of her songs rather different from the originals, and I must say this time it really worked better than ever.
Her backing musicians were weaving a tight sound with hypnotic rhythms, leaving plenty of space for Loreen’s voice and her theatrical moves to be in the limelight.
The hits like My Heart is Refusing Me were still recognizable enough for the audience to sing along to, and Euphoria, also in a different arrangement, got the total sing-along treatment.
Tattoo was the obvious choice for closing the set, and the audience was rather ecstatic by that point. Seeing Loreen go through the different poses of her choreography through my lens from touching distance felt pretty surreal.
When she returned to the stage by herself, the air was thick with love. Loreen reprised her latest single Is It Love in an a cappella version, repeating This Is Love and pointing directly at members of the audience. There were tears and audible sobs from the front row.
To wrap up the whole show, Loreen gave us a most impressive and suggestive version of Statements, which just may be her most powerful song of all. And very fitting for the times we are living in.
I am sure I wasn’t the only one leaving the arena in total awe of this woman.
All photos © Nina Uddin
