Sparkles, polka dots and feathers. Olivia dean is quite truly the definition of spring as she commences her ‘art of loving tour’ in OVO hydro arena in Glasgow. Luckily, I attended one of her double shows in Manchester coop arena on the 26th of April, the third headlining show of her world tour. There is no doubt Olivia dean is one of the biggest music stars on the scene in 2026 from picking up best new artist at the Grammys to winning four brit awards at the 2026 ceremony, this 27-year-old dancing queen has become a global star from releasing her second studio album early last year, ‘The art of loving’. The spring evening started off beautifully with a blissful welcome from her opener Kokoroko, meaning ‘be strong’ in English, they introduced us to their soulful, warm fusion of funk and highlife which was perfect for a spring weekend in the heart of Manchester.
The curtains dropped with the elegant siluotte of miss dean underneath the art of loving intro which then led into ‘we could be nice to each other’ twirling in her sparkles and feathers becoming epitome of perfect. Throughout the bubbling night she played various of different tunes, from both of her albums including some hits such as ‘the hardest part’ and ‘dive’ from her debut studio album ‘Messy’. She also had included two different stages for her performances, stage A where she began her set with her talented band that contributed of Jordan Amalfitano keeping consistent of the guitar, Deschanel Gordon on keyboard, Finn Zeferino Birchall and Joel Walter showing up on the drums the whole band kept tight and consistent night throughout the night showing a true musical bond, however the who shined most of all for me(after Olivia) was her backing singers that brought a sensational musical performance to her show throughout the whole night. One of her final performances was a cover of Curtis Mayfield ‘move on up’ that brought everyone to the floor dancing away to the infamous beat, as i looked around not one person sat down by the last dance, everyone fully immerse in the wonderful Mirrorball known as Olivia dean.
Miss dean first started to rise rapidly in the charts, during the summer of 25, where she featured with Newcastle’s very own Sam Fender, on his new single ‘Reign me in’ that came from fenders third studio album ‘people watching’ and became his first song to reach number one on the UK’s single charts. Significantly the two have come together a few times to perform, Sam fender recently performed with Olivia at one of her six sold out shows at the O2 arena in London on 1st May. This increasing success shows Olivia deans phenomenal instant rise to fame so fast that rarely happens today.
