Photo credit: Mark Allan<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Review by Iris Broisat<\/p>\n
Midway through a captivating set, Aldous Harding threw herself on the stage floor, rolling around and laughing in an almost hysterical manner. Amid bright blue lights, a repetitive drum beat and dissonant guitar chords, this surprising moment perfectly encapsulated the singer\u2019s personality and performance \u2014 enigmatic, expressive and whimsical.<\/span><\/p>\n Accompanied by her band, Harding took the stage at The Sinclair in Cambridge, Mass., on Sept. 14 for a sold-out concert.<\/span><\/p>\n Doors opened at 7 p.m., and at 8 p.m., after a moment of technical difficulties with the microphone, the opening act began. Consisting of Matt Popieluch, playing soft 12-string fingerstyle melodies, and Sam Burton, strumming bluesy six-string chords, the guitar duo introduced the night with soft \u201870s<\/span>–<\/span>style folk songs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Besides one Fred Neil cover, the musicians performed original tracks from Burton\u2019s new album \u201cFairweather Friend\u201d and from Big Search, Popieluch\u2019s band. The artists sang angelic vocal harmonies, comparable to those of the musical duo Crosby & Nash, making the packed venue seem intimate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At the end of their six-song set, the performers joked about Aldous Harding and her band not being from the U.S., saying \u201cNow it\u2019s time to teach her and her band American slang,\u201d before leaving the stage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n During intermission, the audience grew. Fans excitedly waited for New Zealand indie-folk singer Aldous Harding, who has been on tour since May 2026, to come out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think I might be star-struck when I see her,\u201d said one audience member.<\/span><\/p>\n At 9 p.m., the songwriter took the stage alongside her band,\u00a0 wearing a red tracksuit as loud cheers echoed throughout the venue. The show immediately started with \u201cTrain on the Island,\u201d a soulful psychedelic folk song from her 2026 album of the same name, showcasing Harding\u2019s impressive vocals straight off the bat, which were embellished by jarring guitar and bass riffs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Spectators watched silently and intently as the artist slowly danced, raising her arms and rolling her eyes back into her head, seemingly completely consumed by the music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The following songs, which included \u201cI Ate the Most,\u201d \u201cOne Stop\u201d and \u201cTreasure,\u201d continued to demonstrate Harding and her band\u2019s unique stage presence and style: looped keyboard chord progressions, groovy bass lines, surprising vocal melodies and abrupt endings all contributed to the unpredictability of the show.<\/span><\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until the fifth song, \u201cVenus in the Zinnia,\u201d that Harding finally spoke directly to the audience, muttering a sultry \u201chi\u201d and waving; a greeting that was well received by the crowd, who enthusiastically responded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The singer seemed very shy, reserved and even uncomfortable between songs during applause, timidly looking around at her surroundings with a wide-eyed stare like a newborn baby. However, her character would drastically change while she was singing, dancing in a hypnotizing and graceful way, impressively growing in confidence before amazed spectators.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Though she didn\u2019t talk much, that didn\u2019t mean there was no connection shared between the artist and her audience: on the contrary, this bond seemed to grow stronger throughout the concert. Around the middle of her set, Harding started to point at individuals in the crowd, smiling and laughing and making hilarious grimaces at them. She even joked, \u201cSee, I can be fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The tenth song of the set, \u201cSan Francisco,\u201d had a very unique style, a fusion between R&B, folk and alternative rock. At the end of the track, Harding said, \u201cWe were all in that one together, weren\u2019t we.\u201d The audience brightened up and clapped in agreement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The energy of the songs started to rise after that, going from softer fingerstyle-folky ones to more intense pop-rock songs. To match this liveliness, Harding stood up and took off her jacket during \u201cWhat Am I Gonna Do?,\u201d revealing a flowy white top; the audience whistled and cheered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The crowd started to come alive throughout these last few songs, dancing and singing instead of simply watching the performance in silence and awe like before, mimicking Harding\u2019s rise in energy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Before the last song of the set, which Harding said was \u201ca song about me,\u201d the singer-songwriter thanked the audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis really has been wonderful. I feel really close to everyone. Thank you for letting me be myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n After the song, the band left the stage, and the audience cheered loudly and endlessly, demanding they come out for one more song. Their pleas were answered when Harding reentered the stage for \u201cImagining My Man\u201d and \u201cDesigner.\u201d Both were softer folk songs that ended the night on a comforting note.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Having been in the industry for over two decades, Harding\u2019s experience as a musician is obvious when she performs. Her hypnotizing stage presence and her strong connection with the audience make her shows unique and enjoyable.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: Mark Allan Review by Iris Broisat Midway through a captivating set, Aldous Harding threw herself on the stage floor, rolling around and laughing in an almost hysterical manner. Amid bright blue lights, a repetitive drum beat and dissonant guitar chords, this surprising moment perfectly encapsulated the singer\u2019s personality and performance \u2014 enigmatic, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26292,"featured_media":54662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[2763,218,140],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54663,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54661\/revisions\/54663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}