Colours of Ostrava: Lorde Wins Over the Crowd with a Bold Show, President Pavel Greeted with a Standing Ovation

On Saturday evening at the Colours of Ostrava festival in Ostrava, New Zealand singer Lorde headlined the closing, fourth day of the festival's 23rd edition. It was her first concert in Czechia, and despite the minimalist stage design, it turned out to be the most carefully crafted solo show of the entire festival.

Besides the musicians and two dancers, the stage held only a handful of three-metre cube-shaped screens and a water cooler, from which the singer occasionally poured herself a drink. "I love summer. It's the time when we shed our layers and the truth comes out," Lorde said — a line that captured not just the visual side of the show: the artist opened the concert in dark trousers and a light jacket, which she gradually removed to reveal a sheer top with a green bra underneath.

The stripped-back stage and a band that mostly stayed in the background allowed the choreography — essentially a form of stage dance in which Lorde used her body to amplify the meaning of her lyrics — to take centre stage. The 29-year-old singer proved she could sing in almost any position, kneeling or crawling on her stomach, and during "Supercut" she spent nearly half the song lying on top of the cube screen with her head thrown back.

The artist's real name is Ella Maria Lani Yelich-O'Connor. She signed with Universal at just 12 years old, and her debut single "Royals," about teenagers who will never live in luxury the way celebrities do, earned her two Grammy Awards — Song of the Year 2013 and Best Solo Pop Performance. She chose the stage name Lorde out of a fascination with royal dynasties and aristocracy.

Since then, the themes running through her music have shifted dramatically. In "Broken Glass," from her latest album to date, Virgin, she describes her experience with an eating disorder she went through while making the record. Marked by a breakup after a long-term relationship, the album explores self-discovery and inner rebirth. Its cover — featured on eight of the songs performed at Colours — shows an X-ray of the singer's pelvis with an intrauterine device, reflecting the raw, unembellished nature of many of her lyrics.

During the Ostrava show, Lorde performed five songs from her earlier album Melodrama, largely devoted to teenage longing, but most of the setlist came from Virgin, her latest album, in which the almost-30-year-old artist reflects on the inevitability of growing up. In "Favourite Daughter," she recalls always trying to please her mother to earn her love, while in "Shapeshifter" she admits she always moulded herself to fit her partner's expectations in relationships. During "Man of the Year," she surprised the audience by putting on a black jacket that began emitting red beams of light, as if piercing straight through her body.

In the second-to-last song of the night, Lorde had a huge white banner unfurled across the crowd, bearing the numbers "2013" and "2026" — marking the span of her career — alongside the bold phrase "I belong to no one," a message that after years in the industry and one long-term relationship, she has finally shed outside influence and, for the first time, feels truly free.

A stark contrast to Lorde's set came from the night's final headliner, American singer Teddy Swims, who brought a maximalist aesthetic to the stage: a leather sofa, light towers, and countless details such as framed photographs and a microphone stand shaped like a female statue. The singer, who rose to fame through YouTube covers before blending country, R&B, pop-rock and soul on his albums, closed the show shortly after midnight, riding off on a tasselled bicycle to the final chords of his biggest hit, "Lose Control."

The final day of the 23rd Colours of Ostrava festival wasn't only about music — it also brought the climax of the Meltingpot discussion forum. The talk that drew the most public interest was a conversation with Czech President Petr Pavel; tickets sold out within hours of the announcement that the head of state would once again attend the festival in person.

The conversation, moderated by Libor Bouček, was broadcast live by Czech Radio, and the president received a lengthy standing ovation both at the start and at the end. Among other things, he told the audience he would announce well in advance next year whether he plans to run for president again. "We're roughly a year and a half from the next election, and I don't think we should spend that whole time living under the atmosphere of a campaign. That's hardly something that would please anyone," Pavel said. If he wants to return to the festival next year, when Colours will run from 21 to 24 July, he'll have to bear in mind that his presence could be read as part of a potential re-election campaign.

Read also: 9 best cycling routes around Prague: from the Vltava embankments to Karlštejn Castle

Source: seznamzpravy.cz