In theory, Marina And The Diamonds schtick, Bjork goes pop, should kill. In reality, opening at the Izod for Coldplay Friday night, all her flaws became apparent. She can sing, has an amazing range, and "Prima Madonna", and "Obsessions" are both sung better than on record. But neither song is all that good and Marina gives it a good try but she is way way way out of her depth at Izod.
And Marina's songs aren't good enough. The young Denise Richardson lookalike is part of the UK chicks invasion, and she has a strong pop sensibility, certainly an Ellie Goulding type, if not a Florence Welch, but she can't sustain it over more than a couple of songs and while she has a fine voice, her songs just aren't there yet and the product she is pushing is her SECOND ALBUM.
In a white fur vest and black bellbottoms, she is pretty without firing the imagination the way Florence or Amy have. She is bland the way Ellie is, she is pretty but there is no "It Girl" about her, and running around the huge stage? You get tired just watching her.
At Izod she rushed her best song, "I Am Not A Robot", failing to give lines "Never committing to anything to anything, you never pick up the phone when it rings rings rings rings" the gravity it deserves. Marina is much better on concert highlight "Hypocrates", a song so lovely live I went back to check it out again after the show. I guess I missed it but I didn't miss it by that much -the performance was first rate.
Unlike the majority of her mediocre set.
Grade: B-