Dancing Into ‘Delirium’ With Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding thrills a sold-out crowd, and even more fans online, through American Express UNSTAGED.

Sandwiched between Tuesday night’s Victoria Secret Fashion Show and a six-pack showcasing cover on December’s Shape magazine, Ellie Goulding found time to rock out the Hammerstein Ballroom through American Express UNSTAGED on Wednesday November 11.  And Goodness Gracious, what a performance!

This latest installment of AmExUnstaged was directed by none other than Scarlett Johansson and featured social media participation.  Through Twitter polls and the online stream, fans opted for a fog cannon and metallic confetti to be discharged during the show.  And while that was the only official stage explosion of sorts, there were certainly more mini-Explosions throughout the show:  punches of electric guitar, timed light poles, and a striped video screen that provided a constantly moving and engaging background during the show.

“It is so good to see new faces,” Ellie Goulding gushed during her first pause, an impressive non-stop and electric 15 minutes into her show.  “It’s been a crazy week for me and you guys have made it so much better.”  And with that, another explosion: An electric guitar crunched us into “Figure 8.”

It was a sold-out show where Anything Could Happen, including a pair of songs accompanied by ballerinas.  The sets were choreographed by former Alvin Ailey dancer Benoit Swan Pouffer.  In a parting of the audience Red Sea, a mobile platform wheeled (painfully) slowly to the center of the dance floor.  As audience members guessed how the performance was going to work (“Is she going to fly in?  Please tell me she’s going to fly in!”), Ellie was escorted through the crowd to the platform with the help of security (parting of the Red Sea, part two).  The short delay allowed for an impressive pay off:  As Ellie sang “Explosions,” surprise dancers appeared on stage; think part cage-match, part center-stage.  There was so much happening you couldn’t get it in one picture, not that Ellie wanted your phone out to capture it any way.  For “Love Me Like You Do,” Ellie asked us to “remember this performance in your head and not on your phone, like back in the days of Michael Jackson.”  The Army of fans obliged:  phones were dropped as seven dancers moved on stage, and Ellie moved us all.  

The entire AmEx performance was like the Spartan Race of concerts.  We got an hour workout in and Ellie got the equivalent of a Barry’s Bootcamp class.  She has perfected the timed jump (I’m pretty sure she went to Trampo-Lean to prepare for this moment).  She implored her audience to Keep On Dancing although there was no need to ask:  the few patrons that had seats certainly were not in them.  

Ellie, there really IS something in the way you move.  On Wednesday, you flaunted mid-backbends, timed side shuffles, and energetic lunges all the way to your final move:  a timed jump three feet in the air with an electric guitar in tow.

One of the new tracks on Delirium is called We Can’t Move To This.  And on Wednesday night, everyone, including you, proved it was impossible not to.

Wish you could have been there?  You’re in luck!  You can stream the entire performance plus additional content through the American Express UNSTAGED website and app:   https://www.amexunstaged.com/