Olivia Rodrigo review: US star delights fans at Marlay Park in Dublin with Fontaines DC cover
A fiie image of Olivia Rodrigo, who played Marlay Park, Dublin, on Tuesday. (Photo by Nicky J Sims/Getty)
★★★★★
Despite being just 22, Olivia Rodrigo is already at the stage in her career where she could coast. Her debut album is the most streamed album by a female artist on Spotify, and follow-up was a solid front to back offering with nearly as many hits. On Sunday night, she’ll wrap up Glastonbury on the Pyramid Stage, becoming the second youngest artist in the festival's history to headline Worthy Park (Billie Eilish did it at 20).
But at Marlay Park in Dublin on Tuesday night, she shows us just how dedicated she still is to making each show special. “I've been practicing this in my bedroom,” she tells the crowd, before diving into a cover of Fontaines DC’s from 2022 album For casual fans of the Dublin rockers, it’s a bit of a deep cut, and it doesn’t land at all with a crowd who mostly veer teen and under. But, those of us of a slightly older vintage appreciate the effort. And there’s something endearing about hearing the Californian singer sing about ‘the gall of Fine Gael and the fail of Fianna Fáil’. (An experience made that bit stranger by spotting Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe enjoying the gig mere steps away from us).
Dressed in a pair of leather hot pants with matching bra and leopard print mesh top, Rodrigo is on form from the opening bars of a song filled with the self-conscious rage of being overly preoccupied with your partner’s ex. She easily commands the stage with her all-female band, from the angst of to the tender vulnerability of her breakout hit The 40,000 plus crowd — a mix of little girls on their fathers' shoulders, mothers and daughters enjoying their first 'big gig', teens celebrating the start of summer, 20-somethings with work in the morning — know every word.
The most dedicated among us, the 'Livies', had arranged a fan project during holding up signs saying “We care”. Rodrigo notices their effort, of course, and responds sweetly. “Did you organise that?” she asks, wide-eyed. “You’re the sweetest, what did I do to deserve you?”
The crowd starts to chant for a song she has dropped from recent setlists. “We’ll come back to that later,” she says.
An hour and a half in, with the rain now drenching the masses, we get to the encore. and could spark a mosh pit with another crowd, but the legions of young girls prefer to grab their best friend’s hands as they scream the lines, “I don't get angry when I'm pissed / I'm the eternal optimist / I scream inside to deal with it” before joining Rodrigo in the eardrum-bursting scream that follows.
and are euphoric closers, as the fishnet-clad, Dr Marten-wearing masses give it their all (Rodrigo had teased that she'd only play them if “everyone goes fucking crazy”). The crowd starts to disperse, delighted with our already overly-generous encore, before roars started erupting from the front of the pit. Rodrigo has come back again with guitarist in tow.
She’s kept her word and returned to play It’s met with a delighted singalong before she bids us goodnight “for real this time”. I pick up one of the purple confetti stars that had fallen from the sky printed with the words, “Thanks 4 coming to the show, xo Liv”.
A headline slot at Glastonbury is on the cards next weekend, but tonight, Rodrigo acted as if Dublin was her one and only focus. You’ve a chance to see a generational icon on your TV on Sunday — don’t miss it.
