Pop tours in 2025 are generally one of two categories: extravagant spectacle or stripped-down dance party. Lorde ’s “Ultrasound World Tour” is, refreshingly, something in the middle. While other stars have cornered the market on being the provocateur, the drama queen, the rock star, the posh performer, Lorde has always presented as the more left-of-center, elemental type. So, it’s fitting that her show at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, October 1st was equally idiosyncratic.

The stage itself was purposefully sparse: a giant square speaker stack sat at the back, the band was split and sunken into pits on either side of the stage, and a small thrust stage extended into the crowd. Arguably, the centerpiece was the large flat screen along the back of the stage, as each song

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