A victory lap for an artist who’s just getting started

Olivia Dean’s Roundhouse Show was a triumphant celebration of fierce femininity

Photo: Jess Gleeson.

“This next song is about how a lot of my ex-boyfriends have unfollowed me on Instagram, but I still follow all of them,” Olivia Dean quipped to the crowd of her sold out show at the UNSW Roundhouse on Tuesday. “I like to keep tabs on people. Just because we’re not together anymore doesn’t mean I shouldn’t see whatever haircut you’ve gotten.” 

Flippantly self-effacing, Dean’s introduction to her song ‘Dangerously Easy’ was a stark contrast to the actual performance that followed. Dean spent the poignant and powerful song – and the rest of the evening – oscillating between a million different personas. She was scathing and scorned in ‘What Am I Gonna Do On Sundays?’ and ‘No Man’; timid and vulnerable in ‘Everybody’s Crazy’ and ‘Messy’; ever-aloof in ‘Ok Love You Bye’ and ‘Ladies Room’; and flirtatiously optimistic in ‘Dive’ and the as-yet unreleased ‘Nice To Each Other.’ She was your affable best friend, unforgiving femme-fatale, big sister, and tentative situationship, all in one. While her personas evolved, her palpable joy remained consistent: nobody was ever having more fun than Olivia.

Dean was undoubtedly the centerpiece of her show, but each member of her band also played a pivotal role in elevating her songs from their already-exceptional studio versions. Each song was better live, the result of dramatic electric guitar solos (Daniel Rogerson), masterful work on the keys (MADELEINE), cool and complementary bass work (Finn Zeferino-Birchall), and dramatic drums (Joel Waters) fit for a dramatic performer. Small but grand, her band may have overshadowed a less prodigious performer, but their relationship with Dean was always symbiotic. 

Bouncing on stage to rapturous applause, she looked like there was nowhere else in the world she’d ever been more comfortable.

South African opening act Tusekah also brought rising-star power, with stripped pop soul reminiscent of India.Arie and Ella Mai. ‘I’ve Changed’ was her best, a sassy confrontation with an ex-lover who, as she observes, hasn’t “touched some grass in ages” and is a “psycho for not seeing her potential.”

Dean’s 2023 album Messy is a neo-soul celebration of family, femininity, and fierce independence. Earning critical acclaim and a modest but devoted following, ‘Messy’ brought Dean opportunities to play on increasingly large stages, and proved to increasingly impressed audiences exactly who they’d been sleeping on. Her reputation as an exceptional performer now precedes her, the result of standout sets at Coachella and Glastonbury. It’s no surprise, then, that tickets immediately sold out for her performance at a Sydney venue she’d outgrown before even stepping foot on Australian soil. 

“I’m wearing my favorite dress I think I’ve ever worn in my whole life,” she gleefully remarked to her eager audience, referring to a baby-blue form-fitting floor-length number with a boa trim. Dean’s audience largely mirrored her floral pastels and bows – everyone in the crowd was either fit for a Glassons photoshoot or holding the hand of a generous girlfriend who – lucky for them – had decided they were worthy of witnessing Dean in all her magic. 

Bouncing on stage to rapturous applause, she looked like there was nowhere else in the world she’d ever been more comfortable. On the LP’s eponymous track, she confesses that she’s “a little bit messy.” While she’s proven an honest and self-aware songwriter, the idea that Dean is ever anything other than elegance personified feels nearly laughable. With beams of yellow light descending around her and a fan blowing her dark brown locks out of her face, it was hard to believe that such an ethereal old-Hollywood presence could be a victim of the social blunders and awkward gaffes she sings about. She easily earns her audience’s forgiveness for this asymmetry, though; it’s difficult to fault her for being too outstanding. 

Dean’s big closing number arrived prematurely in her set, after she’d been on stage for only an hour. She and her band reached a glorious crescendo in ‘Millionaire’ and the audience reacted accordingly, seemingly begging for an encore. Actually, there was around a quarter of her set left; Dean just deftly evokes more enthusiasm in the middle of her set in what is – to her – just another song, as many artists hope to earn in their encores. She also said that she thinks “encores are silly,” and she has no interest in “pretending” to go away so we’ll beseech that she return for one more tune. It’s no wonder why she doesn’t see the point in encores – she doesn’t need to play any games to pique her audience’s interest. 

In all, Dean’s Messy tour feels like a victory lap for an artist who is only just getting started. She revealed that her sophomore album is on the way, grinning with coy confidence that she “thinks it will be quite good.” If it’s even a semblance of her first show, Dean will be a welcome performer in Sydney whenever she pleases – just, next time, hopefully in a bigger venue as the country catches up to her pastel star power.