After being an avid fan of Marina since the fifth grade, I finally got the chance to see her perform live in Philadelphia at The Met on February 22nd. Yes, on the iconic night of 2/22/2022, My friend and I got to see Marina perform together. Her hour-long performance was truly magical, and my friend and I had a marvelous time listening to her.
Before Marina took the stage, though, there was an opening act: the Swedish singer, Tove Styrke, who brought the crowd up to their feet with her pop and electro-pop songs. She was very interactive with the audience and sang some of her songs, including “Show Me Love,” “Mood Swings,” “Sway,” and “Borderline.” Styrke truly energized the crowd and prepared them for Marina’s upcoming performance.
After an hour of Styrke’s opening act, around 9 p.m., it was finally time for Marina to take the stage. The crowd was practically buzzing with excitement while waiting for Marina. Eventually, after a few minutes, she made her way onto the stage, over to her mic, and started off with the song “Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land.” Everyone exclaimed when the concert properly started. I I thought that this was a great song to start off the concert, since it is quite upbeat and got everyone moving around.
Once the first song was over, Marina introduced her fellow bandmates behind her and expressed how happy she was to perform for us. Shortly afterward, she delved into the next song, “Venus Fly Trap”; for a good amount of the concert, she sang songs from a variety of her albums, such as Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land, Froot, The Family Jewels, Love + Fear, and Electra Heart.
In between a few of the songs, Marina would interact with the crowd, and I appreciated how much effort she put into connecting and interacting with the crowd. It was also evident how much she enjoyed performing, with her prancing around the stage and holding out her mic to the audience to let them sing.
At the last portion of the concert, Marina said that this portion of the concert was called the “heartbreak” part of the performance, to which the crowd seemed very thrilled. In this section of the concert, Marina sang the songs “Teen Idle,” “Highly Emotional People,” “I Love You But I Love Me More,” “How to Be a Heartbreaker,” and “Bubblegum Bitch.”Â
When the song “Teen Idle” started, I may have screamed a bit, since that song was on the album that I had discovered her from: Electra Heart. I had stumbled upon Marina’s music a little less than ten years ago, from a makeup YouTube video by Michelle Phan, where she had used songs from Electra Heart in the background of her makeup tutorial. To hear Marina sing songs from this album really psyched me up, and definitely contributed to my raspy voice after the concert ended.
Near the end of the concert, Marina exited the stage for a bit, and the crowd started chanting her name over and over until she came back to the stage and performed the last song of the night, “Goodbye.”
Overall, I was very pleased with Marina’s performance and had a fantastic time seeing her live, and I’m glad I made the impulsive decision to go and see her.