There are two schools of thought on concert-going (particularly post-corona). One states that nothing can imitate the real-life, tactile experience (well, hopefully not too tactile, for those who don’t want to be touched against their will) and the other assures that it’s nothing but an anxiety-inducing cluster fuck. For those in fan bases who embody the latter mode of thinking, MARINA’s Ancient Dreams: Live From the Desert show was a, indeed, a modern dream come true.
While “they” don’t say specifically which desert MARINA is “live” from, the look smacks of Joshua Tree (LDR ain’t the only one feelin’ its vibe), and since MARINA is a Los Angeles girl these days, that would make sense. Whatever the case, the desert as a backdrop was a pointed choice for the “getting back to nature” motif of Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land.
Opening with the song of the same name, MARINA immediately catches our attention with a neon orange costume, complete with sheer flowing sleeves and matching orange glitter eyeshadow for a 60s-inspired glam effect. And, since her latest video, “Venus Fly Trap,” was awash in 60s-era fashion inspiration, this aesthetic only makes sense (for one can love the look of the 60s without loving its inherent misogyny, you dig?). Yet because MARINA’s intent in her visuals is to juxtapose the idea of the ancient with the modern, it’s only right that she should take some of her vision from “ultra-modern 90s lasses” the Spice Girls, specifically calling out the desert-centric, futuristic “Say You’ll Be There” as part of her proverbial mood board.
In some ways, MARINA also never really left the aesthetic of her 2015-2016 Neon Nature Tour, in promotion of Froot. With her iridescent neon blue and pink (among other colors) costumes, MARINA established a vibrant palette that would become a staple of her onstage persona. What’s more, the theme of the tour goes hand in hand with what she’s exploring on Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land. As she stated at the time, “With the Neon Nature Tour, I really like the idea of taking natural things and blending them. I feel like it’s something I’m always interested in anyway, and I feel like it’s also something a lot of people connect to, like, ‘How can you live a life that’s natural while still progressing and being part of the technological world?’ So the themes for Neon Nature involve a lot of flowers, fruit, very surreal elements…”
The surreal elements of the desert are a perfect continuation of that. Fittingly, she taps into the mystical energy of the tableau most notably right before she delves into singing “Froot.” But before hitting the opening notes, a dreamy guitar riff punctuates all the reasons why people prefer to take their drugs in this kind of setting. It helps tap into something spiritual, otherworldly. Or maybe we’ve just grown so accustomed to living outside the natural world that we can’t absorb it without the aid of psychedelics.
After her raucous, 80s guitar-drenched opener, MARINA segues into “Venus Fly Trap.” Filled with the tongue-in-cheek “sass” of her Electra Heart persona, it was only right for that character to make a cameo in the video. Staring defiantly at the camera as she sways, she declares, “Got the beauty/Got the brains/Hold the power, hold the reins/I should be motherfucking crazy.” She keeps the setlist focused on Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land by following with “Purge the Poison,” another “earthen” anthem about embracing the fact that we are all ultimately Mother Nature’s bitch. So maybe we ought to be a bit kinder to her.
This is a stance that ties in nicely to the aforementioned “Froot,” during which she asserts, “Nature ain’t a fruit machine/She’s gotta keep her credits clean.” Following “Froot,” MARINA sits at her multi-colored piano to sing a heartfelt “Man’s World,” featuring sentiments befitting of the environment as she laments, “Mother Nature’s dyin’/Nobody’s keepin’ score.” Indeed, MARINA’s concern for the Earth is evident throughout the record, also notably on “New America” (which she also performs later in the set). It is at this point that she calls out, “Fucked with the food chain/Fucked with the farming, too/Now food don’t taste like it’s meant to do.”
Then, of course, there is the highly emotional “Highly Emotional People.” For those who don’t wax their arm hair, this is one of those tracks with the power to raise it. With her earnest emotions expressed onstage against the sweeping desert milieu, we can’t help but believe her when she assures us, “You know it’s safe to tell me how you feel.” After all, she’s told us for her entire musical career how she’s felt, as is the case on “Blue,” a fan favorite that has remained on MARINA’s setlists for years. Reworking the opening a bit to repeat “I regret it” twice instead of “We’ve broken up and I regret it,” the song blends seamlessly with the new work, which arises again after this when she performs “New America.”
Another ethereal 80s guitar moment occurs before the appearance of the “Papa Don’t Preach strings” that outshine all other instrumentation. The overwhelming effect of the violin and cello in “New America” is even more prominent live, and imbued with greater urgency thanks to the stylistic shots delivered by Weird Life Films (who also directed “Venus Fly Trap”). In fact, the interspersed “found footage”-esque style of the directing collective becomes a complementary and essential element to the concert (in some ways echoing the aesthetic Lana Del Rey became known for with “Video Games”). Consisting of Ryan Ohm, director and editor, Laura Gordon, art director, and Jackson James, cinematographer, the importance of the artistic route they took in filming this show cannot be underestimated. MARINA also clearly wanted emphasis on each of her musicians (placed atop colored platforms) as there are ample shots of the drummer (Fabian Egger), keyboardist (Shereen Cheong), guitarist (Will Wu), bassist (Terrence Baize), violinist (Bonnie Brooksbank) and cellist (Michelle Packman) to accent their importance to putting the concert together.
Dredging up another staple of her setlist, MARINA appropriately highlights the emotions behind “New America” by succeeding it with “I’m Not a Robot,” during which she makes her second and last costume change into a neon green ensemble (that the orange eyeshadow still coordinates with), complete with an earring change as well: pink, flower-shaped ones to match (details, darling, details) the rest of the outfit.
The up-tempo rhythm of “I’m Not a Robot” is contrasted by the affecting-in-a-ballad-way “Pandora’s Box,” which hits even harder when seeing MARINA perform it at the piano. Filled with gut-punching lines, one of them that especially stands out during this performance is, “You know that love’s a gift, but it can also be a curse” as a result of her drummer waving his hand at the sky like a Neapolitan having an average conversation. The melancholic mood bleeds easily into “To Be Human,” one of the standout tracks from Love + Fear. A conscious choice on MARINA’s part in terms of including work from all five of her records. Though she clearly favors Electra Heart possibly because she wants to please her fans. This is why “To Be Human” leads in somewhat contrastingly to the frothy “How to Be a Heartbreaker”—a number MARINA still delivers with the exact confidence and braggadocio she had ten years ago when it first came out. The same goes for an increasing non-“real” fan favorite (along with, of all things, “Are You Satisfied?” thanks to TikTok): “Bubblegum Bitch.”
Reining the past back in, MARINA reenters the realm of her present body of work with the penultimate song of the concert, “I Love You But I Love Me More.” Having dispensed with the jacket component (one that Cher Horowitz would have surely approved of) of her outfit by now, MARINA is stripped bare in more ways than one as she bemoans, “You’ve had your chance and now you want more/You say you’ll ch-change, you say you’ll transform/I love you, but I love me more.” The dramatic 80s-esque guitar has its way on manipulating the emotions of this song invoked as MARINA raises her hands to the sky and lets the riff do the talking for her now before delivering the chorus once again.
With her high ponytail echoing the elegance and poise of Barbie circa the 50s and 60s meets Ariana Grande pre-Positions, MARINA’s silhouette from the side becomes especially iconic during the coda of Ancient Dreams: Live From the Desert. Poignant and heart-wrenching, it’s difficult to imagine any show MARINA could put on now without closing it with “Goodbye.” An ode to bidding adieu to the different versions of our previous selves that we can no longer identify with, MARINA hits all the high notes as she croons, “Goodbye to the girl that I was/Goodbye to the girl that you lost.” All while her neon green costume (rounded out by bright blue, strappy heeled sandals) is contrasted against the desert sky as the sun sets—literally and metaphorically.
So yes, MARINA sustains her inherent “neon nature” for a show that was a delight to see remotely (not just because crowds are the worst, but because driving out of the desert in traffic would be a bitch). To that end, five of the songs from the Neon Nature Tour remain on the setlist for Ancient Dreams: Live From the Desert, namely “I Am Not a Robot,” “Bubblegum Bitch,” “How to Be a Heartbreaker,” “Froot” and “Blue.” For MARINA, despite bidding adieu to her old self, still knows the value of holding on to certain aspects of that girl who formed her into the person she is now.
