ALDOUS HARDING + VERA ELLEN – BRIGHTON DOME 25.5.26
In a Vice interview, Aldous Harding was described as having an “elastic, shape-shifting voice.” With her own emotion-led sound, Harding is pure vocal versatility: stretching from Fiona Apple’s indignation to Elizabeth Fraser’s despair with no pastiche despite its instant familiarity; it feels like déjà vu, like hearing a familiar cover of a deep cut. With support this evening at Brighton Dome from fellow Kiwi Vera Ellen, tonight is focused on unsettled Oceanic honesty as a closer to Brighton Festival’s 60th edition.
First up and hot off her Great Escape concerts at The Hope & Ruin plus Patterns is Brighton based but Wellington, New Zealand born Vera Ellen, who dropped her ‘Heaven Knows What Time’ 10-track album on 1st May. Compared to Courtney Barnett’s slice-of-life lyrics and droll delivery, her work shares the uncanny ambience of Harding’s, while leaning into a more pop-rooted take on soft rock.
Taking to the stage with her band, Ellen and co. are a relaxed, deadpan bunch. Opening track ‘Hunger Is Just A Memory’ is breezy, with shades of Barnett’s ‘Depreston’, while the follow-up ‘When It’s Over’ is loungey drums, a relaxed swing to hide its damaged beauty. Ellen’s tracks follow a similar formula, with remarkable candour held front and centre over its mellow sound – ‘Gayfever’ is melodically clean with pristine guitar tones, channeling sapphic longing in both melody and lyrics. Despite a set full of heart-on-sleeve honesty, ‘Broadway Junction’ feels like the true moment of earnestness: like the main character of a stage show’s big solo moment, Ellen loses the mic but gains enough smoke from the machine for it to feel like a centrepiece; fittingly, it earns the largest response of the night. While definitely indebted to an underrated Kiwi lineage, Vera Ellen escapes direct comparisons by introducing enough light synth references to align only in honesty.
Vera Ellen:
Vera Ellen – guitar, vocals
Ben Lemi – drums, bass
Albert River – keys (Vera’s brother!)
Lucky – bass, guitar
Vera Ellen setlist:
‘Hunger Is Just A Memory’ (from 2026 ‘Heaven Knows What Time’ album)
‘When It’s Over’ (from 2026 ‘Heaven Knows What Time’ album)
‘Gayfever’ (from 2026 ‘Heaven Knows What Time’ album)
‘Getting Told Off By Mum’ (from 2026 ‘Heaven Knows What Time’ album)
‘Broadway Junction’ (from 2023 ‘Ideal Home Noise’ album)
‘Then There Was You’ (unreleased)
Arriving on stage to a crowd of cargo shorts and summer dresses on the hottest day of the year, it seems as if Aldous Harding has brought her home to us. Opener ‘Train On The Island’ builds off a simple piano loop into something subtle that never quite settles, with Harding’s voice crystalline throughout as she flails softly like a medicated David Byrne.
A constant game of musical chairs throughout, Harding sits for the euphoniously harmonious ‘I Ate The Most’, weaponising light percussion and sparse synths to create something unsettled. While there are long silences between tracks, this never lands as awkward – the audience remains as silent as a class being told off while Harding and her band retune.
In her first showcase moment, ‘One Stop’, Harding’s vocals dance from scale to scale in her twitching metafictional tale of John Cale. “Classic scale… nothing wrong with that”, she jokes. ‘Venus In Zinnia’ allows for some gorgeous harmonies with H Hawkline, both vocally and on acoustic guitar, with a bluesy feel on keys.
Throughout, there’s a feeling of densely populated intimacy, like the entire audience has snuck in for a soundcheck with the occasional comment from Harding to show she’s still with us. With the finger-picked ‘Treasure’ allowing another baritone moment for Hawkline before the chamber-folk pseudo-eruption of ‘If Lady Does it’, the audience is spellbound – band member Mali Llywelyn jokes “it’s not for everyone”, an audience member responds “we love it!”.
An utterly transfixed room has hands glued to chins, as Harding runs through ‘Worms’ before landing on cryptic favourite ‘Passion Babe’ – the Stereolab-via-pop earning a huge response from a room still strapped to their seats. However, ‘Leathery Whip’ with alternating vocals from Hawkline and its soft syncopated organ does inspire some of the crowd to take their first toilet break of the night. ‘Any Tips’ Harding jokes.
‘San Francisco’ weaponises country music as Harding’s next tool, with sparse slide guitar and light maraca percussion held down only by light keys. With Llywelyn swapping to harp for the haunting bossa-nova swing ‘What Am I Gonna Do’, there’s a sense of versatility in the band as they move through multiple instruments and genres with grace. There’s enough trust from their cult leader as she lies on stage and lets them close the track themselves.
From the communal fervour of ‘Fever’ and its shouts of “together” to the electric and acoustic harmonised sprechgesang of ‘Warm Chris’, they dart through the remaining tracks with the electric spontaneity of the first night of the tour.
Passing the acoustic to Llywelyn, newer cut ‘Coats’ is aired – a bluesy cut with slight droning synth from Hawkline creates a disconcerting feeling as Harding again toys with her vocals with the ease of a toddler and Play-Doh. This earns a Mexican wave standing ovation, as Harding and co. flirt with the idea of an encore.
Naturally, this arrives; Harding sits back down for the unconventional finger picking of ‘Riding That Symbol’; with only slight droning synth from Hawkline for ambience, you can hear a pin drop in a Joni Mitchell Laurel Canyon. “This is an oldie but an oldie,” Harding states before ‘Imagining My Man’ in all its arpeggiated folk minimalism is met with “we know this one” from an audience member. “Thank you for letting me by myself”, Harding states dryly before closing out the evening with ‘Designer’ – a silky, ever-changing intonation of folk jauntiness, ending proceedings on a slight upswing.
With a focus on space and atmosphere in her music, tonight’s focus is emphatically on Harding’s voice and her lyrics. Stream-of-consciousness, drunken poetry, or the most profound words of the 2020s are open to interpretation, but they hook the crowd when crypticism can sometimes alienate. Harding’s vocals sound at once familiar, before pulling the rug like a Skinwalker’s imitation of Nico, before shifting into Elizabeth Fraser. Her vocal control is truly astounding, perfectly suited for Brighton’s Dome and a thorough showing of New Zealand’s best. An exercise in less-is-more with the best hypnosis since Derren Brown, Harding is a practically flawless closer at this year’s festival.
Aldous Harding:
Hannah Sian Topp aka Hannah Harding – vocals, guitar
Mali Llywelyn – multiple instruments
H Hawkline – multiple instruments, backing vocals
Sebastian Rochford – drums
Aldous Harding setlist:
‘Train On The Island’ (from 2026 ‘Train On The Island’ album)
‘I Ate The Most’ (from 2026 ‘Train On The Island’ album)
‘One Stop’ (from 2026 ‘Train On The Island’ album)
‘Venus In The Zinnia’ (from 2026 ‘Train On The Island’ album)
‘Treasure’ (from 2019 ‘Designer’ album)
‘If Lady Does It’ (from 2026 ‘Train On The Island’ album)
‘Worms’ (from 2026 ‘Train On The Island’ album)
‘Passion Babe’ (from 2022 ‘Warm Chris’ album)
‘Leathery Whip’ (from 2022 ‘Warm Chris’ album)
‘San Francisco’ (from 2026 ‘Train On The Island’ album)
‘What Am I Gonna Do?’ (from 2026 ‘Train On The Island’ album)
‘Fever’ (from 2022 ‘Warm Chris’ album)
‘Warm Chris’ (from 2022 ‘Warm Chris’ album)
‘Coats’ (from 2026 ‘Train On The Island’ album)
‘Riding That Symbol’ (from 2026 ‘Train On The Island’ album)
‘Imagining My Man’ (from 2017 ‘Party’ album)
‘Designer’ (from 2019 ‘Designer’ album)
