Over the last year or so Marina and her Diamonds have grown from indie-pop secret to the cusp of chart domination.  Indeed, she has now become “the reason you’re here tonight,” she jests with her dry sense of humour. She’s quickly becoming a celebrity.

Despite seeming to become more and more Hollywood the music she makes continues to be great and has not lost any of its verve. She fired through all her most familiar tracks, I Am Not A Robot, Obsessions, and Seventeen with character and passion.

Her singing style, which is almost operatic at times, first drew me to her music and continues to be oh so engaging. It was best displayed when she sat down at the piano to perform Numb, a song with childlike and nursery rhyme vocals to begin with however grew into something quite dramatic.

She played a new song called Rootless, which was a slow and dark number on which her voice seemed to ping over the top in accompaniment.  The dark side to Marina’s music seems to be missed sometimes because it’s far deeper than the fairy coated image she sometimes excudes. A prime example of this, and the highlight of her set, is on Mowgli’s Road which sounded absolutely raucous live.

So there we have it, the first gig of what is sure to be a monumental year for Marina & The Diamonds; she’s everywhere already and is growing into her celebrity status at the speed of light.

Rob