Looking at a festival lineup is sort of like looking at a festival crowd and realizing you've agreed to spend three days with ALL OF THESE PEOPLE. It's overwhelming to say the least. You've got your two favorite bands on opposite stages, playing back to back and forcing you to make some tough decisions. You've got the quiet, but amazing act who you're not sure can hold the attention of a festival crowd decked in cutoffs and wielding obnoxiously large cans of Miller Lite. And then you've got someone like Marina & The Diamonds: She's poppy, but not quite bubblegum. She's big without drawing the kind of crowd that'll crush you like a vice (sorry, Drake), and she makes you wanna do what we all came to a festival to do — dance. And Marina & The Diamonds' set at Governors Ball was evidence of all of that.
Smack dab in the middle of Saturday, when the crowd's energy hadn't yet started to wane, the Welsh singer and her band whipped up the crowd into the perfect level of frenzy. Everyone was interested, everyone was dancing, and everyone was relatively happy. How could you not be, when Marina Lambrini Diamandis is strutting around the stage in a skin-tight, shiny cobalt jumpsuit with the name of her new album "Froot" on her headband in shiny, cursive lettering? Forget the giant spacefruit accompanying her on stage and the fact that the backdrop was meant to signal floating in outer space: It's Diamandis' music that really makes her perfect for this crowd.
Superfans can sing along with every word, bouncing up and down in total adoration. Fans like myself, who've heard the album a few times and knew her from her earlier efforts, The Family Jewels and Elektra Heart, could allow the muscle memory to kick in just enough to dance like maniacs. And newbies, like the friend I danced alongside, can easily recognize why Diamandis' fans love her so, and get down like the rest of us. She's pure fun and isn't that why we all agreed to wear the same wristband for three days straight and ruin our favorite shoes in all the mud all weekend, anyway?
Marina And The Diamonds summer dates are practically all festivals from here on out, including Lollapalooza in August. Clearly, the festival circuit is her sweet spot. And after having danced around to her music in the hot summer sun, I think it's pretty clear why.
She's freaking fabulous.
