Froot Sundae night at The Palladium: Marina and The Diamonds live in London

Tonight (6th December) she interrupts the run of the musical Cats at The Palladium and delivers a performance that’s part vaudeville, burlesque, confessional but ultimately pure pop. I doubt the theatre has experienced anything quite like it.

The premise is a set of three parts, one each for each of Diamandis’s albums, with a visual backdrop for each song. Before she comes on for The Family Jewels section the video screens show a film of animated trees with eyes peering out of them, whilst a monkey skips around. It is of course a preface to “Mowgli's Road”.

Diamandis enters stage left, wearing a red catsuit and cats ears. lanked by her four-piece band and with her shrieks of ‘Cuckoo!’ it could be “Babooshka”-era Kate Bush. Given that we’re in an esteemed theatre there’s an initial deference to the expected etiquette, with the audience sitting down politely in their seats. This lasts for all of 90 seconds, by which time the entire audience is up on their feet. Faced with such numbers, the security staff wisely decides to leave them to it.

The Family Jewels section of the evening shows what a breath of fresh air Diamandis was on her debut. The backdrop to “I Am Not A Robot” shows a conveyor belt building a robotic version of her and she explains that she picked The Palladium because theatre is central to her songs. But theatre isn’t her only forte. On “Obsessions” she sits behind the piano to a background of a Betty Boop cartoon, showing her ability to sound both timeless and older than her years. It’s a song that Victoria Wood could have penned (“Give me a cigarette / Last night's love affair is looking vulnerable in my bed”).

She leaves the stage to a video displaying her transition into Electra Heart, her erstwhile alter-ego and returns dressed in pink, but notably sans the blonde wig. When she spoke to Best Fit last year she said "I can't imagine in a million years putting that wig again...”

While the Electra Heart-era Marina and The Diamonds was the one I was least enamoured with - why battle with the superficial when she was more interesting than those she was stepping into the ring with? – in a live context songs such as “Bubblegum Bitch” and “How To Be A Heartbreaker” come to life beautifully. They incorporate her sense of theatre and more importantly her humour, which a contemporary such as Katy Perry would never nail with a similar wit and self-depreciation.

She explains Electra Heart was ‘a camp, bitchy, side project’ and introduces the toy dog Marilyn as 'Electra’s BFF', who is now now also a crack addict. The ensuing “Primadonna” is tremendous pop, but the real kicker of this part of the set of is the closer “Lies”. With a video backdrop of a million stars it demonstrates the emotional pop she excels at and provides a perfect bridge to the wonder that is Froot.

The build up to the Froot part of the set has a video showing the transition back to the Diamandis of the the album cover, whilst the band plays a space-age spaghetti western soundtrack. She returns dressed in a dark blue sequin outfit and launches into the delirious funk of “Froot”, which somehow manages to make the sound of slap-bass sound cool. It’s a study in lust and longing, with the vocal more restrained than the recording - Diamandis's poise is more Maria Callas than any pop contemporary could pull off. The songs of Froot ruminate on more emotional matters, the line from “Immortal” ‘Everybody dies…' is backlit by what looks like home video of Diamandis and her Nan..

For the encore she points to her past and her future. “Happy” starts with her alone on the piano and is more Edith Piaf than Maria Callas and when she hits the outro with the words "I believe…" the audience suddenly find the most wonderful choral voice to join in with "someone’s watching over me". In an evening of highlights, this one takes some beating.

She closes with “Blue”, the flipside of “Happy” and when she tells the audience “Thank you for giving me such a special evening”, I genuinely believe her. As sad as the sentiment of the song is, the chorus is the most euphoric take on heartbreak and regret I’ve heard in many a moon.

Tonight at the Palladium Marina Diamandis wore four outfits, covered three albums, played two of the most heart-breaking encores you’ll ever hear - and one toy dog called Marilyn nearly stole the show. In the process she delivered one of the most entertaining and pop fuelled evenings the Palladium has ever witnessed in its 100 plus years of existence. Froot Sundae indeed.

Set list

The Family Jewels

“Mowgli's Road”
“I Am Not A Robot”
“Oh No!”
“Obsessions”
“Hollywood”

Electra Heart

“Bubblegum Bitch”
“Teen Idle”
“How to Be a Heartbreaker”
“Primadonna”
“Lies “

Froot

“Froot"
“Savages”
“Can't Pin Me Down”
“I'm a Ruin”
“Forget”
“Immortal”

---Encore---

“Happy”
“Blue”