Live Review: Anne-Marie at 3Arena

Every song seemed to be a crowd favourite as Anne-Marie performed for a sold-out audience at Dublin’s 3Arena last night.

The 28-year-old English singer and songwriter dominated the stage with boundless energy and confidence, exuding an infectious pep that kept the crowd dancing from beginning to end.

Wasting no time, Anne-Marie skipped on stage as the audience chanted her name, immediately singing ‘Bad Girlfriend’. The song commenced her 14-track setlist, the majority of which was drawn from her debut album Speak Your Mind.

Following ‘Bad Girlfriend’, Anne-Marie performed ‘Cry’ before taking a moment to address the crowd. “Wow! Hello Dublin!” she exclaimed. “How are you feeling? You good?” Judging by the deafening roar of their response, one can only assume the answer was a resounding yes.

“Ouch!” Anne-Marie said, laughing, as she introduced the next track, ‘Do It Right’, a single she debuted in 2016.

Other highlights of the night include ‘Heavy’, ‘Trigger’, ‘Ciao Adios’, ‘Can I Get Your Number’, and ‘Let Me Live’. Hardly remaining still for the duration of the show, Anne-Marie’s frequent prompts for the audience to “Sing!” and “Jump!” along with her were met with instantaneous verve.

While performing ‘Rockabye’, a song she collaborated on with Clean Bandit and Sean Paul, Anne-Marie stated, “I need someone to be my Sean Paul!”

Passing a microphone down, she paused during the rapper’s verse to allow an eager audience member to contribute.

Before performing ‘Perfect’, a feel-good song that addresses the beauty in flaws, the screen backing Anne-Marie’s stage lit up with a question: “What does perfect mean to you?”

A series of clips featuring different individuals responding to the prompt followed, including appearances from Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes. One response, in particular, elicited cheers from the crowd, as a transgender man answered, “Accepting yourself even if society does not.”

During the song, when Anne-Marie told the crowd to “Sing it loud,” they obliged, shouting the lyrics, “I’m okay with not being perfect, ‘cause that’s perfect to me.”

It’s evident that Anne-Marie has an impressive talent for turning out hits. Her songs follow a classic pop formula, and although she is not reinventing the wheel, her stellar vocals paired with a heaping dose of empowered poise separates her from other contemporaries.

She connects with her audience incredibly well, in part because she is so profoundly emotive on stage.

Her songs largely capitalize on this and at one point in the show she even admits, “I’m a very emotional person, what can I say?”

Whether it be affection for her childhood romance in her hit ‘2002’ or anger from being cheated on in ‘Alarm’, she has the ability to convince those watching that she truly feels every word she sings.

In this way, many of her songs are anthemic, resonating with an audience that is primarily comprised of young women. She creates songs that contain a sense of freedom, a rejection of the notion that maltreatment in relationships is acceptable. If you don’t love Anne-Marie, that’s OK, because she loves herself.

In an era where women are subject to constant criticism, bolstered by the prominence of social media, Anne-Marie’s fierce songs and performances deliver an important message: I will not be walked over. And as consumers, we are all the better for it.

Leading up to the last song of the night, Anne-Marie gathered her band at the front of the stage with her, to take a photo with the audience.

“Thank you so much,” she gushed. “The last time I played in Dublin, the show’s capacity was 1,500 and now it’s 15,000! Thanks for making me feel welcome and always supporting my music.”

With that, she launched into ‘Friends’, a collaboration with American DJ Marshmello that only encouraged the crowd’s hyper energy.

As the last notes rang through the arena, Anne-Marie shouted: “Thank you so much, I love you so much! I hope you had a good night Dublin, I love you!”