Dodie Live at Vicar Street

As you walk into the venue you can feel the energy, excitement and anticipation of the crowd which was a sea of yellow clothes and sparkling, glitter covered faces, all eagerly awaiting 23-year old English singer-songwriter Dorothy ‘dodie’ Clark. Dodie gained her following through posting videos to YouTube and has now amassed over 1.8 million subscribers and with that now has a dedicated and loving fanbase.

Dublin native Orla Gartland opens the show with an energetic performance accompanied by bass and drums. Throughout her set, Orla shows off her impressive musical abilities playing a drum pad, acoustic and electric guitar.

Orla, who also plays the guitar and sings backing vocals in dodie’s band, has the crowd with her as soon as she starts singing; they sing, clap and dance along to her every word. When Orla plays unreleased track ‘Inevitable’ the crowd falls completely silent as they take in the powerful and emotional slow tempo track. Orla finishes with her most popular and aptly titled track ‘I Go Crazy’. The crowd jump, dance and fist pump along to the indie-pop bop and her set finishes to roaring applause.

As the crowd finish singing along to Ariana Grande’s ‘God is a Woman’ during the interval, the lights fade to black and dodie appears in a spotlight on stage. The scream of the crowd stops almost as soon as it starts as dodie begins her somber a capella track ‘Arms Unfolding’.

The energy of the room dramatically changes as dodie’s band join her on stage and they perform the standout song ‘Monster’ a unique dance-pop track from her latest EP ‘Human’. A further cheer is heard from the crowd as a white light-up sign with the singer’s name appears behind the band on stage, perfectly completing the cosy minimalistic look of the stage.

The plain black curtain behind them is lined with filament bulb string lights with matching lights placed further out into the crowd. These lights then fade and glow to the beat of the drums over the course of the night.

dodie performs her slower tempo tracks first, leading to a high energy ending with her last three songs ‘Absolutely smitten’, ‘Would you be so kind’ and ‘In the middle’.

The crowd hangs on her every word as dodie speaks with refreshing honesty about the meaning behind the songs and the dismay she felt when reading a couple of bad reviews of some recent live shows. Her honesty and talent are very endearing and by the end of the show, there is nothing but pure joy on the faces of everyone in the crowd as they sing and dance along.

Although her show may not be as flashy and loud as a typical pop singer it is just as much if not more fun. Her unique voice and emotionally vulnerable lyrics are even more powerful in person.

The honesty in her songwriting together with catchy melodies and a talented band allow her audience to feel heard as they relate to many of the topics she sings about. This created a very loving and wholesome atmosphere.

Listen to Dodie…