Review: Ellie Goulding starry-eyed at the Palladium

1/17

With any large group of people, it’s inevitable that someone won’t get the memo, and in the case of the Grammys, there literally was a memo, issued by CBS and admonishing Grammy attendees from baring too much skin, the “bare fleshy under curves of the buttocks and buttock crack” and “puffy” bare skin exposure. Among those who obviously didn’t get the memo: Jennifer Lopez, Skylar Grey and Kelly Rowland. Actually, J.Lo got the memo, as she told E! “They didn’t say anything about leg.” (Jason Merritt / Getty Images)

2/17

Taylor Swift opened the show with a three-ring circus of “Alice in Wonderland” imagery, and she performed her hit “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Swift once again demonstrated her show business shrewdness, filling the stage with so many stilt walkers, clowns, flame dancers and human marionettes that it’s likely some failed to notice that she continues to sing poorly live. (Joe Klamar / AFP Getty Images)

3/17

LL Cool J didn’t attempt to yuk the audience up while opening the Grammys for his second stint as host. Instead, he tried to induce a lump in the throat, evoking the spirits of Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson, his recording-artist father and even his dear departed grandmother, to whom he gave his own Grammys. “My grandmother taught me to dream, dream, dream,” the “NCIS: Los Angeles” star told the crowd. As for the Grammys? “I cherish and polish them regularly.” (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

4/17

Midway through Fun.’s performance, fake rain began to fall from the stage, proving to be most distracting from their performance of “Carry On,” as many wondered about the possibility of electrocution on stage. That was either a fear or a wish, depending on the audience’s opinion of Fun. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

5/17

The Grammys have long been known for their odd or interesting pairings: Many praised music elder statesman Elton John teaming with Ed Sheeran, while many criticized Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley. But the strangest pairing had to have been Miguel, right, and Wiz Khalifa performing together and then having to present the award for country solo performance. (John Shearer / InvisionAP)

6/17

One of the best acceptance speech lines of the evening came from Fun. singer Nate Reuss, second from right, who, upon winning song of the year for “We Are Young,” told the crowd, “I don’t know what I was thinking writing the chorus for this song. If you have HD you can see us, and we are not young.” (Actually Reuss is 30, which isn’t exactly old, either.) (John Shearer / InvisionAP)

7/17

Johnny Depp, overflowing with scarves, suddenly appeared on the platform and introduced Mumford & Sons without any introduction of himself. Was it Depp standing there or Captain Jack Sparrow? At this point, they seem to be becoming one and the same. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

8/17

Justin Timberlake’s much-hyped return to live performances featured a 1940s-style staging of his new song “Suit & Tie” broadcast in black and white (to accentuate the old-timey-ness) with an assist from Jay-Z, who bizarrely joined the fun directly from his front-row seat. While the performance drew considerable praise from within Staples Center, many in the TV audience wished it was catchier. (Christopher Polk / Getty Images for NARAS)

9/17

Score another win for Frank Ocean, who beat out Chris Brown for urban contemporary album. Making it especially sweet was that Brown and Ocean were pitted against each other in real life recently in a scuffle over a parking spot at an L.A.-area recording studio. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

10/17

One of the live-performance highlights was the Black Keys teaming with Dr. John and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for a rousing rendition of the Black Keys’ nominated song “Lonely Boy.” After a series of less-than-enthusiastically received performances, this was a standout. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

11/17

Kelly Clarkson at the Grammy Awards. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

12/17

Who doesn’t like a party? Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Sting and Damian Marley did their best to bring the party during their lengthy tribute to Bob Marley, though more attention was paid to the long, lingering cut-away to Rihanna’s on-again, off-again boyfriend Chris Brown, who couldn’t seem to look up with Rihanna took to the stage. (Christopher Polk / Getty Images for NARAS)

13/17

We’re all for experimentation and boundary pushing in our live music performances, but Carrie Underwood was surely steered wrong by someone when they suggested she stand completely still during her performance while a variety of images and patterns were displayed on her large, flowing dress. Unless someone was planning to project “Lincoln” on there, they shouldn’t have bothered. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

14/17

Inspiration seemed to be the theme of the night, starting with host LL Cool J talking about his inspirations, then Grammy winner Gotye spending a big chunk of his acceptance speech praising his presenter, Prince. And then Juanes took a few moments to praise Elton John and cover “Your Song” before introducing Frank Ocean. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

15/17

Backstage, the media was intensely interested in where music producer the Dream got his “Boyz N the Hood” hat that Jay-Z teased him about on stage, alluding to the swap meet where he found it. But in fact the Dream got the hat at the mall, at Spencers. Expect them to be sold out starting Monday. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

16/17

One of the biggest, most rollicking moments of the night was the tribute performance to the Band’s Levon Helm, featuring Elton John, Mavis Staples, Zac Brown, Mumford & Sons and Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes. So rockin’ was the all-star jam that Staples’ vocal stylings exceeded the actual end of the song. But who cares? It was fun. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

17/17

LL Cool J saved the final performance of the night for himself, along with Chuck D., Tom Morello and Travis Barker. While it has been a while since LL Cool J was primarily known for his rapping, this performance on CBS was surely causing the prime audience of Cool J’s “NCIS: Los Angeles” to look at one another and scratch their heads. (John Shearer / InvisionAP)

By August Brown

Feb. 13, 2013 12:46 PM PT

Ellie Goulding described herself as “just a country girl” at her sold-out Hollywood Palladium show Tuesday night. That’s a curious self-image for a 26-year-old English electro-pop vixen with a one-quarter shaved head and a quiver of ravey, chart-topping singles.

But then she followed that quip with “Anything Could Happen,” the first single off her most recent album, “Halcyon,” and it made more sense. On record, that tune is a throb of synthesizers and pitch-tweaked vocals. But live, Goulding sang it as a pretty, simple story about skinny-dipping in a creek and feeling a sense of endless potential. You could easily imagine an actual country artist like Miranda Lambert covering it.

Maybe that’s what’s separated Goulding from the pack of EDM’s young female singers and what’s elevated her to actual pop stardom in America. She’s got a singer-songwriter’s heart and a lyrical way with storytelling. Sure, she’s dated Skrillex and worked with neo-rave staples such as Calvin Harris and Zedd. But it’s also apropos that her hometown village of Lyonshall in Herefordshire is, as England goes, about as country and western as it gets.

Goulding had a slow burn to the top of the U.S. singles charts, first making waves in dance blog-land with her glitchy, dreamy single “Starry Eyed.” But her major-label debut album, “Lights,” unexpectedly leaned on angsty, electronics-augmented folk-pop, which was probably meant to showcase her voice and songwriting chops but instead bogged her down in the maw of indie soundtracks.

The album did, however, have an unexpected late-cycle hit in the title track, and Goulding proved a quick study in marrying EDM sonics with her Kate Bush-indebted songwriting.

Tuesday’s set showed how a good song can shine through grandiose productions, and how electronic witchcraft can highlight delicate, lyrical detail.

An early run of newer tracks set the pace for the night. Goulding and her band reconfigured the digital jitters of “Halcyon’s” title tune and “Figure 8” into something almost headbangable. Goulding makes a point of keeping a bank of drums up front to bash in accompaniment, and the first half of Tuesday’s show took the hummingbird-ish qualities of her voice and balanced them with tribal synth-rock. That approach helped make some older, lightweight songs such as “Under the Sheets” and “Salt Skin” feel a little more arterial and lusty.

The late-middle of the set, which revisited her acoustic-troubadour impulses, dragged a little by comparison. Her piano-ballad cover of Elton John’s “Your Song” was convincing (even with a post-Grammys Elton hangover, it’s hard to sully that classic). But compared to her earlier spare-to-vanishing takes on “Guns and Horses” and “I Know You Care,” it felt as if the band needed to pad her set out a bit.

She quickly regrouped to close out the night, however, with cosmic, regal takes on “Anything Could Happen” and her clubbier hits, including “Starry Eyed,” the Harris collab “I Need Your Love” and “Lights.” This is where she sounded best -- her high, light voice bolstered by big electro pulses and instantly sticky melodies.

Goulding may have come up alongside the EDM tide in America, but she’s one of the few artists to have translated that scene’s bylaws into her own vision. You can take the girl out of the country and put her in the festival dance tent, but that doesn’t mean you’ve entirely taken the country out of her.

The night opened with a brash set by the New York outfit St. Lucia, which played its indie-friendly club tracks with unexpected muscle and emotion. The act’s still hunting for a breakout pop hit, but its members clearly have the prowess to join the Passion Pits of the world if they write one.

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