“From Iceland with love”: Zara Larsson's Venus Tour in Reykjavik, a photo diary by Norah

It's common knowledge that Zara Larsson's Venus Tour – the fourth concert tour from the Swedish talent and former Vogue Scandinavia cover star – comprised performances of her fan favourite tracks, dazzling costumes and a powerful, all-female collective of supporting musicians and dancers. Lesser known are the colourful events that have taken place off-stage: from towering mango cheesecakes to flea market visits and furry bunny masks.

Here, Larsson's supporting DJ Norah documents the final show of the month-long tour which wowed the star's fan cohort in Reykjavik. With the final chorus of 'Can't Tame Her' coinciding with an eye-boggling volcanic eruption, the tour's Icelandic finale was an experience that Larsson and her team won't quickly forget.

Scroll on for a glimpse of all the insider moments and backstage happenings surrounding the closing act of the Venus Tour in Norah's exclusive Reykjavik diary.

“It’s Friday afternoon and I’ve left the Airbnb to dinner to a cubbyhole called Three Coats, a warm recommendation of genuine Icelandic cuisine that we got from our driver Robert, a Paralympic medallist and the owner of the biggest private gin collection in Iceland. During the 45 minute drive from the airport, he also shared various bric-a-brac of his companionship with the former president (whom he shares birthdays with and got to know by knocking on his door on their shared day), elf folk sagas and the logistics of the incest tracking app.”

“Dinner! An itinerary full of niche references only my close friends would understand, a four-course meal if you include yapping as a separate dish. We got to taste an array of whale and puffin meat, tender smoked salmon paired with sides of curry and wasabi mayo, which surprisingly withheld a high grade of yumminess and strayed far-away from the usual wasabi (store-bought sushi) and curry (dyed and processed) which all three of us are used to.”

“Feminist literature and a poor man's Ren Hang.”

“A post-dinner smoke and de-brief of the ambiance. Towards the end of a dinner, our server for the night came out with desserts (a towering mango cheesecake measured two fists high) and a guessing game for us to figure out the origins of her perplexing accent. Our crescendo-ing excitement and competitive guessing banter were strongly dulled down when she revealed she immigrated as a result of an execution of a cousin on the farm she grew up on with no further context given. Cheesecake was amazing, btw.”

“We head back home and do an impromptu photo shoot with this bunny mask I soberly ordered online the other week for creative reasons I can’t explain. Not as avant-garde as envisioned, but we move.”

“Left (was extorted) my (somebody else's) charger in Zara and Lamin’s car the other day so we had to make an appointment for lunch, to which one of the parties in this diplomatic arrangement was discriminated against with a whopping 45 minutes. in which they sat outside the restaurant just glaring. Humbling, especially when you are the only one of 400 bypassers not wearing an insulating overcoat, just hoodie and desperation.”

“Sight-seeing!”

“To the weekend flea market we went and bumped into these two legends who were hustling drop-shipped fake chains for bargain prices. I asked if they wanted to be a part of this Vogue thing I’m doing and they said sure, but I have to make sure to get the Jesus bling too then.”

“Soundcheck! Getting front-row seats to rehearsals and to witness some Ammunition choreo never gets old.”

“Back to the room, a needed pack-up for the terrifying airport pick-up at 5.15am the following morning and a quick outfit change too. I went with the Puma Fenty sneakers, because who got time walking around in tassled loafers at the club, really?’

“Paired with ‘Hell’ socks from Team Scandi, bedazzled denim from Zara and olive green kuffiyeh, from the stand next to the young jewellery hustlers at the market.”

“Show time! And our type of merch.”

“With the inavoidable cultural regression of society and the never-ending trend predictions dominating our algorithms; I’m taking a leading stand to revive the tumblr-quote-swag-core of the 2010s. Sometimes all you really do need is in fact, swag.”

“<3”

“In the same breath as the final chorus of ‘Can’t Tame Her’ roared through the venue hall, a volcano erupted. With the most stunning gasping in the city we headed up to the terrace and shared a beautiful moment with the whole crew commemorating the end of Venus Tour.”

“The after party I played at Auto Nightclub later that night resulted in opening with a kizomba edit of ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ (banger), hours of manic non-stop post-tour cathartic dancing and then this video of Gwyneth Paltrow as a general summary.”