When the stage’s cream curtains pull again, Olivia Dean and band are already in full move. Hands reaching out to the viewers in welcome, she shimmies behind a silver mic stand in a floor-length candyfloss-pink gown, her band side-stepping on curved, softly carpeted risers. The swinging, sighing soul-pop single Nice to Each Other is brilliant with optimism for an on-off relationship, whereas soft-focus digital camera footage makes a collage out of gleaming trumpets, glamorous backing singers and Dean’s beaming face. With the air of old style music TV, it’s knowingly retro and deeply romantic – all the things you’d count on from the 27-year-old singer who’s respiration recent air into British soul.
On this opening night time of two sold-out arena reveals in Glasgow, forward of six nights at London’s O2, Dean breezes via two extra of her largest songs as if it’s no huge deal. Lady Lady, about transferring out and rising up, is bassy and wealthy, whereas So Easy (To Fall in Love) is free, flirty and radiant: “This is a song to remind you that you’re fab,” she crows, now dancing on the stage’s footlights.
Dean’s rapid rise to pop’s upper echelons, clinched by her greatest new artist win on the Grammys in February and four Brit awards, is down to precisely this ethereal, simple attraction. So when Dean drops the polish for a showstopping Let Alone the One You Love, it’s all of the extra placing. Leaning on a keyboard, forehead furrowed, she relives an argument with real frustration seeming to rise in her voice – “If you knew me at all, you wouldn’t try to keep me small” – as her brass gamers fanfare their assist. On file, the tune’s brilliant association feels misplaced, however on stage it’s extra clearly a riposte: good luck attempting to dim Dean’s mild.
“I drove past King Tut’s on my way here,” she says slowly. “I never imagined I could have my own arena tour.” She performed the 300-cap membership solely three years in the past, earlier than leaping to a venue triple its measurement in 2024 – however glitzy set-design apart, the bones of Dean’s present haven’t modified. Since her final go to she has added two singers to her band, plus a wardrobe of glam costume modifications, however the actual progress is in Olivia herself. Magnetic and commanding, she nonetheless pops some Motown strikes – a hand perched on her hip, or a finger held aloft in time-honoured girl-group type – however her efficiency feels lived-in and pure, as does her gentle, expressive voice.
She has additionally grown the boldness to be susceptible. When Dean sits on a stool to sing older observe UFO, backed solely by her long-time bassist and guitarist, the viewers mild the arena with their telephones. It’s pretty customary apply for a ballad, however Dean crumbles on the sight. She makes it to the ultimate line earlier than holding her face in her fingers for a correct cry: “I’ll never forget that,” she squeaks.
There is tangible affection for her within the room, with the shared feeling of watching a star take steps into unknown however lengthy dreamed of territory. It offers a rose tint to a few of her lesser materials, which shines brighter with the massive band therapy and her sheer pressure of persona. And by the point she closes, inevitably, on Man I Need – her first UK No 1 and the newest member of Spotify’s Billions Club – Dean is floating with happiness, her toes barely touching the bottom. The curtains shut, the top credit roll, and it seems like a basic romance in each approach.
