Review: Marina and the Diamonds at the 02 Academy

As someone who goes to a lot of gigs, I am becoming noticeably more difficult to please. That said, I am also a huge – make that a humungous – and unashamed Marina and the Diamonds fan, so admittedly my opinion of the night could have gone either way. But I was far from being disappointed…it was one of the best spectacles I have ever seen.

Spectacle is certainly the word: Marina went all out with costume changes, props (including a cuddly poodle called Marilyn. No, really), glitter and a stage set up like no other.

For such a small and basically bland venue it was a rainbow of an event – I’m guessing it was one of the first times a girl’s bedroom has been located there, coat stand and television included.

Before you cringe at how cheesy and well – poppy – this all sounds, I can’t really explain it but it just worked, I completely embraced it for what Marina had clearly intended it to be: a great, fun night out.

The best thing about the whole night however was Marina’s voice, as a singer’s performance should be I would argue. If you think she sounds great on recording, her live performance is to another level, even when she has felt sick all day as she told us during the gig. Is there anything this woman can’t do?

She kicked off with the song Lonely Hearts Club, due to that also being the name of the tour and from there it just got better. She played some of her biggest hits surprisingly early on. Not complying to the convention of saving the most favoured until last.

Songs such as I Am Not a Robot and the chart-topper Primadonna Girl went down a storm with everyone going just a bit crazy, including myself I will willingly confess. One of the highlights of the night was definitely Radioactive, where even Marina herself couldn’t resist a bit of wacky dancing.

The encore was for me the pleasantest surprise as Marina played Teen Idle by herself on the piano, which was very intimate, especially if you are aware of the fact that this particular song is one of her personal favourites off her new album.

This was followed by a feel-good, bass-pumping version of How to Be a Heartbreaker, Marina’s upcoming single which I think everyone was anticipating.

The praise given to the Liverpool audience, and how she informed us that she intends to Tweet a picture of herself with a “Scouse top-bun” just made the already excitable crowd love her that little bit more. I certainly now have a girl crush. And yes, I did buy a T-shirt.