[1] Her tweet was accompanied by the release of a new song titled "Sober" (2017) and the announcement of the opening act for her tour, Khalid.

[4] Shortly after the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, Lorde tweeted, "If you're debating whether or not I can murder a stage ... come see it for [yourself]" after it was reported that she was the only Album of the Year nominee not to be offered a solo performance at the ceremony.

[11] Lorde made other appearances including at Roskilde in Denmark,[12] Fuji Rock in Japan,[13] Bumbershoot in Seattle, and Life is Beautiful in Nevada.

[16] Richard Young, the tour's production director, said the purpose of the container was to mirror the album's storyline, saying: We reveal the tank a third of the way in; it goes up and down and dancers get into it.

[18] Shannon Nickerson, Tait Towers' project manager, considered two factors for the container's design: its ability to be disassembled and shipped with "minimal square footage" and to provide movement around the stage.

[19] Philip Harvey, a mixing engineer, utilized the Solid State Logic L500 Plus keypad that detects each instrument and displays it as small circle on the "L-ISA Controller screen" with a map locating each speaker.

[22] During "Tennis Court", one dancer stood on top of a transparent container box, facing the audience with a spotlight shining on her.

A video played in the background showing four women in a car sharing a flask and smoking a joint as they apply their makeup.

"[21] A video played in the background showing a woman resting her head near a car window as it drives through city streets at night.

A video played showing monarch butterflies pollinating flowers, a woman graciously falling into a pool and two lovers kissing.

A video of Lorde spray-painting a car in an abandoned parking lot played in the background; the container tilted sideways several times during the performance.

After completing the song, she spoke to the crowd about the previous year of her life; her dancers placed fluorescent light tubes around the stage before she sang "Writer in the Dark".

[23] During "Sober II (Melodrama)", the container ascended and tilted sideways to show all the dancers reenacting a fight in slow motion lit with red and violet hues.

Quotes from American journalist Joan Didion's 1968 essay collection book Slouching Towards Bethlehem were shown on a screen during an interlude.

For the encore, Lorde used a drum pad (MPD24 MIDI controller) for "Loveless";[25] she also performed an unreleased song titled "Precious Metals".

Jon Caramanica of The New York Times praised her stage presence, saying: "She smiles and sighs as easily as she loses herself in reverie when the song demands it".

[27] Echoing similar thoughts, Jim Harrington of The Mercury News lauded Lorde for her personality, saying she "dominated our attention and fascination during each and every moment of the concert".

[28] Los Angeles Times' writer Mikael Wood complimented Lorde for being able to create a "sense of intimacy" in such an "expansive space".

[29] The Independent's Daniel Wright gave the London show a four out of five star rating, complimenting her self-aware attitude but felt her cover of Phil Collins' 1981 song "In the Air Tonight" was "out of place".

[36] Stereogum's Chris DeVille was critical of her "basic arena banter" but said that "she's her own kind of pop star, one with a different skill set and point of view than we’ve come to expect from people with this job".

[50] Anschutz Entertainment Group, a promoter for the tour, also offered free upgrades to lower seats and closed off venue's upper tiers.

[54] It was reported that tour dates in the United Kingdom,[55] Australia (Perth and Sydney)[56][57] as well as US locations in Washington, D.C.,[58] and Brooklyn were sold out.

It urged Lorde to cancel her Israel tour, saying that the "Israeli government's policies of oppression, ethnic cleansing, human rights violations, occupation and apartheid".

[76] Lorde issued a statement on Twitter thanking her fans for educating her about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict[77] saying, "I'm not too proud to admit I didn't make the right call [by booking this tour]".

[79] In contrast, pro-Israel groups and supporters including the actress Roseanne Barr criticised Lorde's action.

[81] American Orthodox Rabbi and author Shmuley Boteach's organization "The World Values Network" placed a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post, with the headline "Lorde and New Zealand ignore Syria to attack Israel", and called her a "bigot", saying that there was what they called a double standard in that she would at the same time be touring Russia, despite Putin's support for the Syrian regime and its killings in Syria.

[83][84][85][86] In response to Boteach's poster, one hundred actors, writers, directors, and musicians including Roger Waters, John Cusack, Angela Davis, Mark Ruffalo, and Viggo Mortensen published a joint letter in The Guardian defending Lorde's stand.

[87] On 31 January 2018, three Israeli teenagers sued the activists who wrote the open letter for "emotional damage" resulting from the concert's cancellation.

The activists responded to the ruling by saying they had no intention to pay the fine, instead opening a crowdfunding campaign to support the Gaza Mental Health Foundation.