Music Review | Olivia Dean at Co-op Live in Manchester

A wonderful evening

We recently saw Olivia Dean deliver an almost spellbinding performance at Co-op Live in Manchester

Author | Peter Jones

Entering Co-op Live to a sea of polka dots, gleaming smiles and the gentle hum of “Man I Need”, there was a buoyant sense of anticipation drifting through Manchester on a warm Sunday evening. It marked the second and final night of Olivia Dean’s sold-out run at the UK’s largest indoor arena. 

The scale of the occasion felt all the more striking given that, just three years ago, she was performing at the Manchester Academy 3, a venue with a capacity of fewer than 500. Her rise since has been both swift and assured, underpinned by a clarity of voice and artistic identity that now places her among the most compelling figures in British music.

Before Dean took to the stage on her first arena tour, support came from Jalen Ngonda

This was a set of understated warmth and richness. The American, now based in England, drew from Motown, classic soul and R&B, weaving intricate arrangements around a voice of striking control and depth. 

Highlights included “Anyone in Love”, “Doctrine of Love” and “If You Don’t Want My Love”, each performed with a quiet confidence that steadily won over the crowd. When he announced his final song, a ripple of playful protest met him, a clear sign that the audience would have welcomed more. With a UK and Ireland tour scheduled for the autumn, his growing reputation seems well deserved.

Then it was time for the main act

A brief interlude followed, marked by a swift and efficient stage reset that even saw a member of the crew earn applause while vacuuming the cream-coloured carpet. As the lights dimmed, anticipation sharpened. Dean’s silhouette emerged behind soft curtains, and the set revealed itself as something akin to a retro theatre, elegant and carefully composed. Opening with “The Art of Loving”, she appeared already immersed in the moment, smiling broadly as her band and backing vocalists settled into a confident groove.

Despite the vastness of the arena, Dean fostered an intimacy that felt genuine rather than performative. At one point, she singled out a fan holding a sign referencing support since 2019, pausing to speak with them before expressing her gratitude to the audience more widely. She also offered context to several songs, reflecting on themes of self-worth and emotional growth. Introducing “Let Alone The One You Love”, she framed it as a meditation on recognising one’s own value, a sentiment delivered with particular force. That emotional clarity carried through “Close Up”, where flashes of frustration and vulnerability surfaced against a backdrop of sombre piano and a subtle 1970s inflection.

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“Echo”, her 2020 single, provided one of the evening’s most expansive moments, unfolding into a loose, celebratory jam that brought together Dean, her band and backing singers in a shared burst of energy. Later, she moved to a flower-shaped B-stage in the centre of the arena, reappearing in a white ensemble to perform “Loud”, “A Couple Minutes” and “The Hardest Part” amid a sea of attentive fans.

The evening closed, fittingly, with “Man I Need”, a song that had already woven itself into the fabric of the night, echoing through the venue and beyond long before Dean’s arrival on stage. Its extended finale captured much of what defines her appeal: poise, warmth and a vocal presence that remains assured even at scale. As the crowd filtered out into the night, many still singing, the sense lingered that this was not simply a milestone performance, but a sign of an artist settling comfortably into a much larger space.