Live Review

Marina And The Diamonds – The Academy, Dublin

• 23rd Nov 2009

Dark, monsoon wet and choppy wind was the night that was in it, but inside the Academy the burning fire of Marina and The Diamonds kept the audience sweltering hot.

A week before releasing her first major single, ‘Mowgli’s Road’, Marina Diamandis showcased her talents with a gig in Dublin’s Academy on November 11th.

Soothing the crowd with cute melodies and quirky lyrics, Dublin’s own Valerie Francis opened for Marina, performing tracks from her debut album ‘Slow Dynamo’. Francis was a welcome addition to Marina’s show, cheerfully flirting with the crowd, while bringing her almost enchanting charisma and definitely winning over a few new fans.

Marina burst onto the stage with fan-hit ‘Girls’. The opener prepared the crowd for an evening of chanting, whistling and bopping along to Marina’s now cult hits. She showcased many of her well-known songs from the ‘Crown Jewels EP’ released in June of this year. Her debut album, rumoured to be called ‘Family Jewels’ will not be released until February of next year, much to the demise of her anticipative fans.

Her first single ‘obsessions’ which was released on Neon Gold records was sung stripped down, with only Marina and her keyboard on stage in dim lighting. ‘Seventeen’ and an acoustic ‘Mowgli’s Road’ gave rouse to the energetic crowd while the highlight of the set was the electric ‘I Am Not A Robot’, complete with devout fans near-screaming the lyrics back at the singer.

The Welsh-born singer seemed overwhelmed by the crowd, nicknamed ‘her emeralds’. She giggled and laughed along with the crowd, even recognising a few familiar faces and grabing some hands. The singer ended her set with an encore of the up-beat (release) version of ‘Mowgli’s Road’ complete with cuckoos and piano-bashing.

A later tweet from the star read “Oh jesus, I am in love with the Irish.. LONG LIVE THE EMERALDS.” Don’t worry Marina, we all love you too!

Both the Crown Jewels EP and Mowgli’s Road are available right now from Itunes.
Photo (c) Dave Berry