Marina and the Diamonds: “It was a really special show”

Last night, Marina and the Diamonds took to the stage for the first show in support of her new album ‘FROOT’ - get the lowdown right here - and she spoke to DIY the morning after the night before.

Taking on the rather intimate confines of Hackney’s Oslo for the special DIY Presents… show, Marina Diamandis admitted on stage that last night’s live stint was her first in over a year and half, as well as her first appearance in the capital in almost double that time.

“It was very satisfying,” she enthused, when speaking to us earlier today about the show. “I didn’t really know what to expect actually because I hadn’t played in London for two and a half years, and that’s since I’ve had a proper break from touring, but it was a really special show. We did a really nice job on the stage design, with the neon forest, so I was really pleased.

“I feel so positive this morning,” she went on, explaining that after a bit of a hectic week, it was the perfect way to kick off her touring schedule. “It’s really a shift in mood; the past week has been a bit stressful because of gearing up to release the record, but I feel very excited and I also feel thrilled visually, about how it’s turned out. When you plan things, especially set design for small venues and then also huge festivals, you don’t know quite how things are going to fit, but it’s working out really well. I’m pleased and happy that I’m gonna be able to evolve that.”

Her set marked the first time that fans were treated to live renditions of some of her new tracks, including ‘Blue’, ‘Forget’ and ‘I’m A Ruin’, as well as her debut opportunity to perform them. “I really, really like playing the new songs, and we’d rehearsed for a week so I felt very comfortable playing them. People seemed to know them already too!” she laughed. “I couldn’t even hear myself singing!

Even her slight initial concerns around slotting her new material alongside her older offerings soon evaporated when the set got going. “It was very much a new experience for me, because the type of album that I’ve done is so different to the last one,” she explained. “It’s very much an adjustment period because you don’t know how it’s all going to fit together, or what the crowd’s going to be like, but it was really interesting to see. The songs seemed to blend together quite well actually, which was a testament to my band!

“One of the major things I noticed was that, singing the ‘Electra Heart’ songs. it’s really impossible not to slip into that very theatrical, camp character. With the new songs, they don’t come from that place and they’re a completely different tone, so that’s definitely going to be something interesting to see, in the future, how it develops.”