MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS at Sound Academy, Monday, November 2. Rating: NNNN
There was a sense that Marina Diamandis was wiping a slate clean by structuring her Neon Nature Tour into three acts based on her three albums. The Welsh-Greek pop star’s latest, Froot, is a pared-back break-up album written and recorded without superstar producers pushing her toward the latest commercial trends, as was apparently the case with her previous effort, Electra Heart.
Essentially that meant the first two acts played like a greatest hits show, which suited her ardent fan base just fine they shrieked deafeningly and sang along joyfully as Diamandis and her four-piece band played one hit after another. She brandished props from past tours – mouse ears, Marilyn the stuffed dog, a bubble gun – that served as winking references for the gathered faithful.
Though cartoonish, the visuals didn’t detract from her swooping, smoky vocals, and the band also stayed out of her way – musically by sticking to familiar arrangements and physically on an elevated platform above the stage.
Diamandis clearly has a loyal following in Toronto but didn’t milk it with speeches and endless stage patter. The audience did require extra prompting during the plaintive balladry of the Froot era (“Like you mean it!”), but by the end their connection to her was bluntly articulated by those up front waving signs that read “You make us happy.”
