OLIVIA Live in Paris

On Friday July 6th, OLIVIA had her first performance in Europe, in Paris, France. Fans came from all over Europe to see the petite star and the concert venue, La Locomotive, was filled to the brim.

The show started a little after nine, as people were still filtering inside. The lights went off, and OLIVIA and her support band came out, starting with the song Stars Shining Out. The barefoot OLIVIA was extremely energetic, jumping over the stage with the rock song. Although missing shoes, the rest of her black outfit was quite cute with a short skirt, top with a vest over it, and her hair done up in two pony tails. The upbeat Stars Shining Out was a great way to start the concert, immediately setting a great mood as everyone jumped about as OLIVIA danced on stage, not seeming nervous or anxious for her first performance in Europe at all.

After the song she introduced herself, speaking a little in French while telling the audience that she thought the country was magnificent and that she was really happy to be there. Even though she needed a note to remember what to say exactly, the pronunciation was close to perfect and she was rewarded by loud cheers from the audience. She then skipped to English, introducing the next song as ‘an old one’ as the bells of the spidER spins intro started. While OLIVIA hummed the childish tune along, the crowd started to roar, obviously happy to hear one of their favourite songs.

From here, the mood took a sudden change as she started Celestial Deliquent, also from her album The Lost Lolli. Instead of dancing, twirling and jumping around, OLIVIA took a threatening posture, taking slow steps and singing to the audience with vehemence. The mood continued in this way with Under Your Waves, in which she was shouting angrily, full of power and sometimes standing on her tiptoes as she was reaching the highest notes.

After a number of songs from her newest NANA-related mini-album, she announced that they would be playing a number of songs from her album The Cloudy Dreamer. Starting off with the intense Cut Me Free, she moved on to the much calmer If You Only Knew. The ballad started off with a piano playing quietly, OLIVIA alternating between hitting the high notes with precision and lowering her voice to a whisper. As the band joined in, If You Only Knew took on a more rockish edge than that heard in the recording, although the delicateness of the song remained intact. The live drumming, as opposed to only electronic beats, also managed to give If You Only Knew an extra dimension, making it more intense, more real.

Then, in between the songs, the guitarist switched his electric guitar for an acoustic one and another ballad followed; Winter Sleep. She started the song with only the acoustic guitar as accompaniment before the rest of the band joined in during the chorus. The song seemed to touch everyone deeply, the fragility of OLIVIA’s voice and the lyrics 'will you hold me now, my frozen heart...' creating shivers to run down one's spine and perhaps even a tear in the eye.

Then, she started to tell the audience that the next song would be a brand new one. Maybe it was going to be released as her next single, maybe not, with a chuckle she announced that she didn’t know about that yet. The song was received very well by the audience, and despite it was probably one of the first times that OLIVIA performed the song live, she sang the catchy rock song confidently and danced in the same dynamic fashion. The audience in return pumped their fists in the air, jumping and dancing around.

Suddenly, OLIVIA raised her hand up in the air, saying ‘okay okay’, and making the band stop. Apparently, they had started on a chorus or a verse too soon. OLIVIA looked embarrassed though she laughed about it, and absolutely no one seemed to mind, but found it amusing and were even happy to listen to the new song again! She continued with the same high energy with the song Nothing's Gonna Take My Love, also a newer one.

She ended then with the upbeat rock song Wish, another popular one to judge by the ear-splitting screams from the fans. Again, the audience went crazy, dancing and jumping around, and singing along the English bits.

Then, she left the stage and her band did as well, waving to the audience only to come out again after only a few minutes, apparently not able to wait any longer as the crow yelled for an encore.

In no time OLIVIA was rocking the stage again, this time with the song A little pain. She seemed to be enjoying herself very well, dancing around with a smile on her face and then with the lyrics "No need...", she pointed her microphone to the audience as they all sang "...to cry" in return and then dancing to the instrumental bridge. The final song of the evening was Blind Unicorn, another rather heavy rock song. After that, the concert was really over and the fans slowly started to make their way to the exit, still dazed and incredibly happy to been able to witness OLIVIA’s first European concert. It had been a fantastic evening, one that definitely begs to be repeated!


Set list

1. Stars Shining Out
2. Spider Spins
3. Celestial Delinquent
4. Under Your Waves
5. Starless Night
6. Recorded Butterflies
7. Cut Me free
8. If You Only Knew
9. Winter Sleep
10. Real Love
11. Nothing's Gonna Take My Love
12. Who's Gonna Stop It?
13. Tell Me
14. Wish

*** ENCORE ***
15. A Little Pain
16. Blind Unicorn