Marina brings Love + Fear pop show to The Netherlands
Over four years after her last visit to the Netherlands to promote her third record FROOT, Marina finally returns for two shows in Melkweg (Amsterdam) and 013 (Tilburg). Earlier this year, she released her new double album Love + Fear while also dropping the ‘& The Diamonds’ part of her stage name, now performing as just Marina. With the Love + Fear tour, she serves her fans from the early days as well as those who jumped on the Marina train a bit later on with a big pop show that touches upon all the eras in her career.
Marina brought Canadian pop artist Allie X along as supporting act. The 34-year-old singer who has two albums and multiple EPs to her name, presented a set full of excellent electronic pop songs like ‘Casanova’, ‘Rings A Bell’ and ‘Fresh Laundry’. She is quite the presence on stage with expressive dance moves with her hair going all over the place thanks to a wind machine. Vocally, her ad libs sound impressive, but during the verses her live vocals often seemed drowned out by those on tape. Still, a pop star with tracks like ‘Paper Love’ and ‘Bitch’ to her name deserves her own European club tour.
Marina took the stage next in an eye catching red ensemble with a cape that danced behind her thanks to that same wind machine. She opened the show accompanied by a male and female dancer, performing the first Love + Fear single titled ‘Handmade Heaven’. It immediately becomes clear that the mixing of the sound tonight is perfect. Her voice sounds crystal clear from start to finish and you can understand every single word she sings. Her wide range that goes from low and deep tones to sky high in no time, is impressive and it seems like her vocals get steadier and more emotive with every tour she does.
After ‘Handmade Heaven’, the Welsh-Greek pop star picks up the pace with ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Primadonna’, her biggest uptempo hits from her first two albums. Her fans did study her new work properly as well, as they sing along to every word of bops like ‘Enjoy Your Life’, ‘Superstar’ and ‘Orange Trees’ too. All tracks are accompanied by fitting visuals and subtle choreography. This is quite the change from her earlier tours as she uses way more props and elements to please the eye, like the stunning expressive modern dance during ‘Believe In Love’. She also brought two female backing singers who join in with choreography too. At the same time, she is only accompanied by a drummer instead of the full band she had before. This is a change not all of her fans might enjoy as much, but the big pop show she performs these days suits the contemporary and upbeat style of most of her tunes.
This however does not mean that she does not take the time for some slower and meaningful songs too. Her rendition of her early days hit ‘I Am Not A Robot’ is a clear highlight while ‘To Be Human’ about the state of the earth makes an impact thanks to its lyrics and striking visuals. She saves the gorgeous love song ‘End of the Earth’ to the very last. Although the second act (just like on the album) is about Fear, she still serves some swinging tunes, but this time the more feisty ones. The crowd goes wild to Electra Heart album track ‘Bubblegum Bitch’, one of Marina’s own personal favourites, while the summery but sassy ‘Karma’ gets the hips moving too. Towards the end she sits down behind the keyboard to treat the loyal fans who bought a ticket to see her, to the unreleased ballad ‘I’m Not Hungry Anymore’, which was appreciated by at least one fan who loudly screams ‘release it!’ at her right after she finishes.
Love + Fear is easily Marina’s biggest show yet and definitely her most pop star worthy one. She looks stunning in both outfits, works the stage like a diva, has a visually outstanding show appropriate for the size of the stage and venue and the spectacle never takes away from the songs, lyrics or her magical voice. She proves that once more with Clean Bandit collaboration and one of her biggest hits ‘Baby’, which makes for an excellent climax to the concert. With four excellent albums to her name, Marina is still growing!