Ellie Goulding graced the stage at the 2014 Brit Awards just hours ago, in one of her very scarce awards show performances. Did she deliver? The short answer: sort-of.
If you were to divide the performance up between her acoustic I Need Your Love and her intense drum filled Burn, then you would be given two great performances. However, when you try to do both and put a lackluster and awkward transition with no context between them, you're left bored for a few seconds, and thrown about. For a few seconds, it felt like a good time to take a bathroom break. And it's a shame, because those few seconds really did kill what became an incredible performance.
The drumming, the fire, the dancers and Ellie's hips joined forces to give Burn it's best performance to date. Every live rendition of Burn before has felt strangely naked, since the synth riffs are given to a wimpy electric guitar most of the time. If Ellie would have just let Burn have 3/4 minutes to breathe, it would've been a much more effective performance.
And I Need Your Love was… interesting. The nun outfit seemed a bit out of place, in addition to a nervously fast tempo that she delivered with her acoustic guitar, it was nice, but simultaneously awkward.
If this performance was a dish, it would be very bittersweet.