{"id":922552,"date":"2026-10-10T02:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T02:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922552\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T02:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T02:46:15","slug":"olivia-dean-concert-review-the-art-of-loving-2026-tour-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922552\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Dean concert review: The Art of Loving 2026 Tour Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Review: Last night, thousands upon thousands of polka dots<\/a> lined the streets of Sydney and tonight, they\u2019re set to take over the town again. <\/p>\n

The print has become something of an unofficial dress code for one of the biggest concerts of the year<\/a> and I wasn\u2019t about to miss out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Polka dots were everywhere you looked as fans embraced the singer\u2019s unofficial dress code.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

I donned my polka-dot best and joined more than 20,000 adoring fans to see British soul-pop sensation Olivia Dean<\/a> perform her first of two sold-out Sydney shows.<\/p>\n

For those out of the loop, the 27-year-old singer sparked a viral fashion trend after wearing a string of polka-dot outfits on stage, which inspired fans to use the print as their own concert uniform. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having the inside scoop, my outfit was planned well in advance. Because if there\u2019s one thing the girls are going to discuss before a big night out, it\u2019s the dress code and I\u2019m not one to disregard its sanctity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nobody was going to Rein Me In as I, alongside what felt like literally thousands of polka dots, swarmed Sydney Olympic Park to see the woman herself.<\/p>\n

\"Olivia<\/p>\n

Olivia Dean performed the first of two sold-out Sydney shows on Friday night.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

And while I was uniquely accompanied by a man (sorry all, he was the Man I Need(ed) and a huge fan), it was abundantly clear the girls were out in full force.<\/p>\n

Never have I felt such a strong sense of girlhood at a concert. There were trios of best friends in front of me, sisters behind me and mother-daughter duos to my side.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason one of the best-selling pieces of merchandise reads \u201cI don\u2019t need a boyfriend\u201d.<\/p>\n

But before Dean took to the stage, Australian singer Kaiit had the job of warming up the crowd, treating us to her soulful, jazz-infused sound.<\/p>\n

She set the mood beautifully and by the time the lights went down for the main act, the anticipation was almost unbearable, especially for the very cute pair of primary-school-aged girls behind me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t about to miss out on the dress code, having planned my outfit well in advance.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

Then came the screams.<\/p>\n

Dean appeared on stage, shouting \u201cSYDNEY\u201d to a deafening reception before launching into her hit Nice To Each Other.<\/p>\n

Within seconds, the crowd was singing along to every single word.<\/p>\n

The British star is touring her hugely successful second album, The Art of Loving, which has as she said, changed her life \u201cin every way possible\u201d by catapulting her into the spotlight with hits including Man I Need, So Easy (To Fall In Love) and A Couple Of Minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the name suggests and Dean explains, the album explores love in all its many forms, from the excitement of falling for someone to the less glamorous business of picking yourself back up when it all goes south.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The emotional songs hit close to home for many fans in the audience.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

Dean\u2019s music isn\u2019t just about romantic relationships. There\u2019s plenty about friendship, family and learning to love yourself, too.<\/p>\n

When I took a look around the arena, it was glaringly obvious why her music had struck such a chord.<\/p>\n

While there was lots of love in the room, there was also a fair bit of heartbreak.<\/p>\n

I watched as women were propped up by their friends, arms wrapped around shoulders as songs like Something Inbetween and Baby Steps hit a little too close to home.<\/p>\n

Others were dancing without a care in the world and there were adorable 10-year-old\u2019s belting out the lyrics with the sort of passion that suggested they\u2019d somehow lived through every word.<\/p>\n

It was a truly heartwarming and intimate thing to experience, especially in such an enormous crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, there was plenty of glitz and glamour too.<\/p>\n

Disco balls, costume changes, sequins and heels were all part of the spectacle, with Dean showing off her style best.<\/p>\n

What impressed me most wasn\u2019t just the A-class outfits or the production. It was just how much care she seemed to put into the music itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The night was filled with sequins, disco balls and plenty of glamour.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

Her voice is extraordinary live, somehow sounding even more rich and effortless than it does on the recordings, even while she\u2019s dancing around the stage at full power in heels.<\/p>\n

Instead of letting her band fade into the background as I have seen done many times, Dean made a point of celebrating the musicians who helped bring the incredible show to life.<\/p>\n

At one point, she dedicated an entire section to introducing the band, giving each member their own moment to show off their talents while her backing singers echoed their names and instruments.<\/p>\n

It was a small detail, but one that made the whole performance feel more personal.<\/p>\n

The night also slowed down for some of the older songs from her debut album, Messy, with thousands of phone torches lighting up the arena.<\/p>\n

For a moment, it was easy to forget just how many people were packed into the room.<\/p>\n

Dean has somehow managed to turn songs about the most personal, occasionally painful parts of being human into something more than 20,000 people can experience together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dean made a point of celebrating the musicians who helped bring her show to life.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

\"Olivia<\/p>\n

Dean, pictured at the 2025 ARIA Awards, never forgets to put on a show.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

There were tears, plenty of dancing and a frankly impressive amount of polka dots.<\/p>\n

I went in expecting a great concert from an artist I love and I left with an even greater appreciation for her music and the people who share my adoration for it.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re heading to see her tonight, don\u2019t forget to wear your polka dots!\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Review: Last night, thousands upon thousands of polka dots lined the streets of Sydney and tonight, they\u2019re set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-922552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}