MARINA // REFECTORY, LEEDS
Marina brings her ‘Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land’ tour to a very hot Leeds Uni Audience
★★★★★ (5/5)
MARINA // REFECTORY LEEDS - 21.05.2022
PICTURE BY // JOHN HAYHURST
It must be about 95 degrees in here and so a few young students are passing out and need water, this is before Marina has even taken to the stage. You would be forgiven to think that Covid didn’t exist but for a handful of people still wearing masks, everyone else is quite happy to be rubbing shoulders with your neighbours in the Refectory furnace. A couple of suitably placed industrial fans are put on stage to move the hot air around and the side door opened.
We have 3 very hot (literally) female artists presenting tonight, first up the Caymanian multi-instrumentalist Maeve, I listened to her latest tracks in the car coming into Leeds and expected a dark Billie Eilish wannabe projecting some dystopian electro musical nightmare. Couldn’t have been further from the truth as she came out bright and vivacious wearing a red and white outfit and didn’t stop moving around, jumping down into the pit to greet eager fans at the front. Mixing between keyboards and guitar Maeve is proof about always seeing the support bands – now on my list as a must see next time in town.
Then we have the Swedish sensation Tove Styrke who dared to cover ABBA’s ‘Super Trooper’ in her set, although I’d rather watch her than an old overpriced group of avatars. It’s fresh and very hot, she strips down to her big girl pants and top after the first two songs, and blasts through some electro r’n’b in a high octane show, never stopping throughout, she is everywhere - on the speaker stack, writhing on the floor or on the security rail. ‘Show Me Love’, ‘Borderline’ and ‘Sway’ all getting a great reaction from this sold out crowd.
Marina may have ditched her diamonds but does have a backing band, they are all dressed in black and so is Marina as she steps up to the stage. Wearing a tight shorts and top combo covered in fine mesh bodysuit with the words ‘whatever’ written all over in sliver and black, she struts on to the stage for opener ‘Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land’ the title track of her latest album. The people here have waited long enough for this tour to commence and with only a handful of dates in the UK, some have travelled across from Europe to get a glimpse of their queen. She is promoting this new album so we expect plenty from it ‘Venus Fly Trap’ follows immediately after, and we get 7 songs in the set from that new album. But it is a careful balance and there is also time for some older classics from previous records like ‘Froot’, ‘Electra Heart’ and ‘The Family Jewels’.
Marina isn’t quite as animated as Tove, but that is probably down to the heat, and there is less choreography than previous tours but there is no denying the sheer talent that she has and the quality of her songwriting which should really have her competing with the Gaga’s of this world in the arenas. After a raucous ‘Hollywood’ Marina is forced to play ‘Happy’ just her on the piano due to the still rising heat in this venue. This just a break from the dancing though as we head towards the encore with my personal fave ‘Bubblegum Bitch’ it is a fantastic slice of kitsch pop set to a frantic pace, we are done! Only new track ‘Goodbye’ and classic ‘Primadonna’ left to sweat through.
Marina could have sold this place out twice over and if all was fair in the world she would actually be playing the arena down the road, however, it was a superb classy pop show full of incredible talent from these amazing empowering female performers.
REVIEW + PHOTOS BY //
JOHN HAYHURST
SETLIST
REFECTORY, LEEDS
ANCIENT DREAMS IN A MODERN LAND
VENUS FLY TRAP
FROOT
MAN’S WORLD
ARE YOU SATISFIED?
I AM NOT A ROBOT
OH NO!
PURGE THE POISON
TO BE HUMAN
HOLLYWOOD
HAPPY
FORGET
TEEN IDLE
HIGHLY EMOTIONAL PEOPLE
I LOVE YOU BUT I LOVE ME MORE
HOW TO BE A HEARTBREAKER
BUBBLEGUM BITCH
ENCORE:
GOODBYE
PRIMADONNA
TOUR DATES:
22ND MAY 2022
LONDON // O2 BRIXTON ACADEMY