When Marina Diamond and The Diamonds broke onto the British pop scene with her debut record The Family Jewels and its irresistible accompanying single ‘Hollywood’, she was a practically unique presence; striking Welsh-Greek looks, classically trained voice and quirky indie-friendly songs about outsiderdom with a Bjork-like love of quirky sounds.
Then her second album came round and she decided she wanted to be Lady Gaga (albeit through the prism of a titular character that satirised the pressures of being young and female in the 21st century).
Big singles aside, it never quite came together as a sustained project, making this year’s more left field, disco inspired Froot, a welcome change of pace, notwithstanding the equally flamboyant costume choices.
To fit with this narrative, tonight’s show is divided into three acts consisting of tracks drawn from each album with each act accompanied by a change of outfit; The Family Jewels with a pink crop top and harem pants, Electra Heart with a pink catsuit and finally Froot with a blue sequinned jumpsuit.
The segues are neatly managed, with Marina darting off stage as graphics whirr and flicker, updating her projected portrait with a blonde wig for Electra Heart and neon fruits for her latest record, as her band jam away.
Her stage patter can seem a little mechanical, but the crowd lap up shout outs to Glaswegian landmarks and the shrieks and screams that accompany her every move indicate that she’s among friends.
From her debut there are outings for the wonderful weird ‘Mowgli’s Road’ and the charming ‘I Am Not a Robot’, a song whose titular refrain is sung enthusiastically back at the star by the audience, while ‘Obsessions’, delivered by Marina from behind a piano, highlights her key role as a songwriter.
Unlike some of her pop peers, these are not songs that feel like they could have come from any pen but her own.
The first quintet of tracks draws to a close with the always wonderful ‘Hollywood’, a track whose cute throwaway “you look like Shakira, no no you’re Catherine Zeta” digs remarkably sharply at the fetishisation and amalgamation of anything deemed “exotic”, all in the guise of a perfect pop anthem.
The Electra Heart era tracks lean towards the out and out bangers, with only the tragic ‘Teen Idle’ adding emotional baggage, but the audience dance enthusiastically to the riotous new-wave guitars of ‘Bubblegum Bitch’ and wave their hands to ‘How to be a Heartbreaker’ as Marina struts across the stage with practiced ease.
As the most overtly cartoonish pop star this side of Nicki Minaj it can sometimes come as a surprise how sharp and affecting Marina is capable of being, with both ‘I’m a Ruin’ and the penultimate ‘Happy’ packing genuine emotional punch, but the night’s twin high points are a sky-scraping version of ‘Immortal’, which closes the main set with the grandeur of a Broadway show, and the wonderful Studio 54 sashay of ‘Blue’; a track that hits at the vast quality of her songwriting skills.
Striding off into the night as her fans cheer adoringly, Marina is still the princess of British pop.
Words: Max Sefton
Photos: Celia Varelo-Sixto
