SAN FRANCISCO — Aurora has for a long time made music as a response to the injustices she sees in the world. From human-caused destruction of nature, to people forced from their homes, and more recently the insensitivity and callousness of some in today’s age.

The latter is one driving force of her latest album, June’s What Happened to the Heart? Bringing people together by asking them to look beyond their differences was a key theme at her concert at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Saturday night, the second show of a nine-date North American leg of her tour.

The performance was arranged as a metaphorical story arc, with the heavier subject matter taking up much of the beginning and middle portions—granted, some of it was infectiously danceable—with the joyous songs setting up the conclusion and encore.

The artist, born Aurora Aksnes, didn’t shy away from talking about those heavy themes. She introduced older slow-burning song, “It Happened Quiet,” by saying it was one she had to get it out of the way and out of her. The ballad slowly bubbled as she was joined by a guitarist and one of two backing vocalists. Their voices rose and rose, blending into one.

The Norwegian also attempted to address the election and American politics in a surprisingly lengthy talk focusing on the temporary nature of time and unity, just two songs into the set.

“If you zoom out, you see it’s … not just about who leads for the next four years,” she said. “It’s so easy to split us apart and fear each other because fear is such a powerful emotion… I hope you keep your faith in each other, because that’s very important.

Barefoot, Aurora sang and danced in a flowing white dress on a stage sparse other than the band and vocalists tucked to both sides and a ring of spotlights, with an artfully used, never over-the-top projection screen in the rear. After kicking off with a rocking, choral-sounding “Churchyard,” she and the band hit the brakes for several slower tunes. She stood at center stage and delivered the icy vocals of “Soulless Creatures”—one of a couple of songs from 2019’s A Different Kind of Human (Step II)—until the song started its eventual build, and she pranced around in circles.

Aurora had plenty to say between songs, sometimes speaking in similes and sometimes in a stream-of-consciousness that clearly tickled her fancy.

“Certainly, there are many new faces here, because you were not so many before,” she said after noting how packed the room was. “This place looks looks so much bigger with all of you in it. Thanks for bringing the meat.”

The fleshy metaphors weren’t done; she just spoke faster than I could write.

The entire stage was bathed in a red strobe light during the moody, electronic “Heathens,” from 2022’s The Gods We Can Touch. The following song, “The Dark Dresses Lightly,” was punctuated by warlike drumming. A slow-motion, dagger-wielding Aurora shone on the screen while the stage lighting remained blood red.

“We are moving on from orgasmic emotions to popular human emotions,” said Aurora, who was prone to the occasional demure F-bomb or other titillating curse, all in that ice princess voice. She got distracted at the outset of one song and lost her place.

“I’m sorry, I keep thinking of funny things. Like when we were walking up, we were singing ‘cockenballs’,” she said, breaking out in a laugh. Somehow, those asides fit right in among songs like “Exist for Love,” about toxic relationships. Without the context, the sweet-sounding guitar ballad could have been a love song. Aurora briefly paused the song while one attendee appeared to be in distress, before moving on to the meditative “Echo of My Shadow,” much of it delivered over a synth drone as she harmonized with the other vocalists.

The string-tinged “A Soul with No King” provided a change of pace, sounding like a Celtic jam. The musicians were shrouded in the shadows for much of the night, so it was difficult to see whether that element came courtesy of a backing track or if it was performed live. That preceded the instantly recognizable “Runaway” (of the not-too-distant Tik-Tok trend) which got the first singalong of the night going.

The pace picked up from there, with the powerful “The Seed,” jagged guitar rocker “The Blade” and syncopated rock song “Starvation,” the latter turning into a rave, though thematically, it felt like everyone was holding in a breath. Aurora dedicated the first of the three to the Earth and the second to women (“Our bodies, our choice is all I have to say”). It was not until the main set closer, the exuberant “Giving In to the Love,” and the encore, that joy entered the picture.

Aurora herself provided the exhale by belting out while dancing and spinning to songs like “Cure for Me” and “Some Type of Skin.”

Irish-born artist Biig Piig opened the show with a terrific and well-paced 40-minute set that blended bedroom pop and electronic music with jazz and funk.

Singer-songwriter Jessica Smyth spent a chunk of her childhood in Spain, which is why she sang parts of several of her songs in Spanish. She began in a long black skirt and red shirt, skipping around to moody and melodic tune “4AM,” soul-infused “Oh No” and jazzy—even before the bassist picked up a saxophone—”Roses and Gold.” Smyth sang with a rich, hazy voice and was backed by a tight rhythm section.

That song slowed and transitioned into “Perdida,” then funky “Sunny” and slinky “Vete.” She briefly left the stage, losing the skirt and returning in sparkly black shorts. The rest of the set picked up the pace, with the poppy “Feels Right,” disco-tinged “Favourite Girl” and thumping “Decimal.”

Biig Piig split the front of the audience in half and hopped into the new space to sing and dance during “Picking Up.” “Switch” was the most raucous song of the bunch, an electronic punk song that had Smyth shouting along.

Contact editor Roman Gokhman at RomiTheWriter.bsky.social. Follow photographer Karen Goldman at Instagram.com/karenshootsmusic.