Written by Tee Tolmar.
Photos by Jamie MacMillan.
There’s something almost cosmically fitting about AURORA performing in a church. On Wednesday night at Union Chapel, the Norwegian artist took to the stage beneath the venue’s magnificent dome, surrounded by Gothic arches, stained glass windows, and rows of wooden pews. The 19th-century chapel’s ethereal beauty felt like it had been waiting for her all along.
Despite admitting that she promised her sound tech not to speak before her first song, AURORA couldn’t help herself. She had to tell us how nervous she was — and why. “This matters,” she said simply, and the weight of those two words filled the room.
This wasn’t just a concert. Every ticket sold, every note sung, every moment of the evening was in service of War Child, the organisation supporting children living through conflict in some of the world’s most neglected crises. War Child’s speaker of the night deliberately named each of the countries where the charity works because these places are too often left unmentioned, their suffering invisible: Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza and the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Ukraine and Yemen. That’s why I’m naming them here too. These aren’t abstractions. These are children who deserve our attention, our resources, our hope.
The speaker asked us all to turn on our phone flashlights. The chapel lit up like a constellation, and she grew emotional, saying that each of the lights felt like a beam of hope. At this point in the night, the benefit had already raised over £80,000, and that was before we were all encouraged to donate a further £5 by texting HOPE to 70225 — something you can still do if you want to be a part of War Child’s inspiring mission. This is truly life-changing money that will reach the children who need it most.
AURORA opened with ‘Echo Of My Shadow’, her voice immediately filling every crevice of the chapel. The acoustics were stunning. It was so quiet when she sang you could hear a pin drop, every soft note amplified by the reverent silence of an audience completely transfixed.
Union Chapel’s thousand person capacity ensured an intimate atmosphere, and this was reinforced by AURORA’s fan interactions throughout the concert, from pausing her singing to say “bless you” to a sneezing fan to meeting fan requests. When someone asked her to perform ‘Winter Bird’, AURORA admitted she’d forgotten it. What followed was one of the sweetest moments of the night with AURORA asking the audience for help with lyrics and melody, letting fans sing along while she giggled and apologised. “I love all my children equally, but this one… I haven’t seen him in years,” she laughed.
The concert was full of profound moments. AURORA’s introduction to ‘Infections of a Different Kind’ showcased her unique gift for storytelling. She’d written it after a very delayed flight full of stressed passengers. She described how a very low moment was completely transformed when a three-year-old girl began running around. Everyone forgot their tiredness, just watching her with a smile. “Just by being a child, she became the most divine entity in the airport.”
AURORA herself felt like a divine entity during this performance. Rays of light danced around her as she floated around the stage in her signature white gown, and the stained glass window behind her lit up in an array of colours throughout the concert. Her keyboard player provided angelic backing melodies and their combined harmonies found a perfect home in this beautiful venue.
Alongside many heartfelt moments, AURORA also brought her signature show to this meaningful concert. From looking up and apologising to God for swearing and using his name in vain in a church to joking that real love made even people as short as her feel tall, she was constantly making the audience laugh.
AURORA herself put on an incredible show, but she was complimented by three very special guest stars. First up was Jacob Alon, a Scottish singer-songwriter and “a beautiful soul,” as described by AURORA. They were a fittingly soft presence, performing a stripped back version of ‘Fairy In A Bottle’that had the audience perfectly hushed. The second special guest Paris Paloma encouraged a little bit more of a singalong, performing ‘Labour’,which fit the mood of the night perfectly. Lastly, AURORA invited her longtime friend Dodie on the stage, who sat at the piano to perform ‘Tall Kids’. All three artists and their songs were beautiful additions to a truly special night.
Towards the end, the concert took a more sombre tone as AURORA kept reminding us to “think of the children.” She introduced ‘The Seed’ with a meditation on activist anger: the kind that doesn’t make you hate but gives you enough fire to change things. “We’re more scared of activists,” she noted, “than we are of our planet dying or of war.” When she first wrote the song, it was purely angry. With years, it became only sad — but tonight it was part of something big and hopeful.
The final song, ‘Through The Eyes Of A Child’, asked the question haunting the entire night: how do you explain to a child that life — such a gift — can feel like such a curse? The song was so painfully fitting that much of the audience and AURORA herself were tearing up.
In Union Chapel’s sacred space, beneath that magnificent dome and surrounded by stained glass, AURORA didn’t just raise money for War Child. She reminded us what it means to be human, to feel, to care, and why that matters more than ever.
To end, I’d like to quote AURORA herself: “When music and politics shake hands, it’s one of the kindest and most beautiful friendships in this world.”
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