Gig review: Marina and the Diamonds, O2 Academy, Glasgow

SUPPORT act and new Glasgow girl on the block Kloe purports to be a Marina fangirl. It is early days for this teenage singer and her slick, processed electro pop but there is much she could learn from a headline act who is not afraid to indulge in an eccentric yet accessible display of playful pop music.

Marina and the Diamonds. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Marina and the Diamonds | Rating: **** | Academy, Glasgow

The squeals and singalongs which greeted each beloved song confirmed the bona fide pop star status of Marina Diamandis, but she is no production line princess, boasting personality to spare and an exceptional and distinctive pop voice which deploys different vocal tones without appearing contrived. She was also able to carry off the plaintive emotion of I Am Not A Robot while wearing a couple of headlamps like Mickey Mouse ears.

While her spangly wardrobe of catsuits owed much to Hot Gossip-era Sarah Brightman, her musical instincts are closer to the theatrical flourishes of Kate Bush and Regina Spector, especially on the more oddball tracks aired from her debut album, The Family Jewels.

The setlist moved chronologically through each of her three albums, Electra Heart yielding both the bonkers Europop of Bubblegum Bitch and the more functional club banger How To Be A Heartbreaker. She took a pop at the dog-in-a-handbag set on Primadonna with her own battery operated poodle prop and covered Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors with straight sincerity, but the sleeker, more generic material from current album Froot did not bode especially well for the future. Stay weird, Marina.

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