Olivia Dean stood before nearly 20,000 fans at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, the first of two sold-out shows at the venue for her Art of Loving Tour. Less than a year ago, she was playing the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, a room that holds about 1,200 people.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dean made the contrast herself early in the set. "It's mental to be here after playing the Fonda last time; it's not lost on me that that's a big jump," she told the crowd, adding thanks to fans for their support after her breakout album The Art of Loving "changed my life."
Dean, 27, won best new artist at the Grammy Awards in January, giving her speech from this same arena stage. She referenced that night again during the concert, this time before performing "Carmen," a song dedicated to her grandmother that closed out her 2023 debut album Messy. "She was probably the most important person in my life and made me the person I am today," Dean said. "She came to the U.K. when she was 18 years old. She'd never been on a plane before, and she came from the Caribbean to London. By the time she was my age, she had four kids. One of them was my mum, and then my mum had me and now I get to do this with my life."
The show drew on an old-school entertainer's sensibility. Dean performed with a jazzy horn section and a full backing band dressed in matching black suits and dresses. Disco balls lit the arena. Her fans matched the formal energy, arriving in dresses and full-length skirts rather than the casual attire typical of an L.A. concert crowd.
The production had an intimate quality despite the scale. Dean spent portions of the set on a smaller star-shaped stage built toward the middle of the floor, placing her within a few feet of the crowd. She moved between the two stages throughout the night.
Dean currently holds the two longest-running songs on the Billboard Hot 100. "Man I Need" has logged 46 weeks on the chart and sits at No. 10, while "So Easy (To Fall in Love)" is just above it at No. 9 after 41 weeks. Still, fan response was equally strong for deeper cuts from the album, including "Something Inbetween" and "A Couple Minutes." After "Something Inbetween," Dean paused to take in the crowd response, smiling and raising and lowering her arms as the cheers continued.
The Grammy speech from January was a recurring touchstone of the night. Dean had told the audience that night she was "up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant," and on Tuesday she returned to that moment before "Carmen," connecting it directly to the family history that shaped both her and the song.
Dean's second sold-out night at Crypto.com Arena is scheduled for Wednesday.
