Photo: Anne-Marie Forker
Singer-songwriter Emilie Nicolas is on tour, including 2 sold out shows at Operaen in Oslo. Nicolas opened the first concert with the 2022 single, the low key “Limits”, followed by one of her biggest hits, “Who's gonna love you” which energised the crowd immediately. "Tusen, tusen takk...keep the songs coming!", Nicholas quipped. She had a long night ahead of her, and each concert was 22 songs in length. Accompanying her was a 5 piece band, with a couple of percussionists, several synths, a bass and a guitar. They often appeared in the shade, as silhouettes behind Nicholas. They occasionally emerged from the darkness, much like their music would slowly build behind Nicholas’ voice. The sound meandered between the organic and the digital, with strong, pulsating electropop beats and dim tones.
The venue provided the perfect environment for the band’s powerful sound, but there were also quieter, more subdued parts of the concert. The band’s silhouettes disappeared for a while and a video screen appeared for the quieter section. Nicholas was only accompanied by a keyboard for her debut single "Pstereo" from her first album “Like I'm A Warrior” and the hauntingly beautiful composition "Roots". Then she played acoustic guitar for “And Love”, which the crowd showed their appreciation for by clapping loudly in unison at the end.
Then it was time to take the concert up a level. During the next few songs, “Wild One”, “Fail” and “Put me Down”, the sound and vision became louder and brighter, culminating in Nicholas’ recent single “Easy”, and her vocals filled the venue with her emotional declaration of the lyrics “you just don’t know how to love me”. The emotion would continue with “Grown Up”, as family videos played behind her, and several people in the audience cried. The visual highlight of the concert was next, when pink confetti rained down slowly on the stage during “Feel Fine”, and then Nicholas concluded the set with “Everyday”, which the audience greeted with screams of enthusiasm. One thing is for sure, Nicholas is not an “Everyday” artist, but a rare talent.
