John Blow
Published25th Jun 2025, 13:31 BST
Updated25th Jun 2025, 13:31 BST
“We’ve always had a crazy connection,” Dua Lipa announces to Anfield and it responds in kind with screaming devotion.
The British-Albanian superstar’s two-night Radical Optimism tour showcase at Liverpool FC’s ground was, as a football commentator might put it, finely poised, given her 2018 hit with Calvin Harris, One Kiss, is a beloved standard on these terraces.
And in any case, by this point Dua Lipa is almost invincible. The 29-year-old is the 20th most popular artist in the world on Spotify, while her massive presence on TV, film (Barbie, anyone?) and radio comes with her own podcasts, an Instagram page with almost 90 million followers and a few Grammys too.
Dua Lipa sings through a downpour at Anfield.placeholder image
Dua Lipa sings through a downpour at Anfield.
Her brand is so huge that it threatens to subsume her talent and a live performance, bizarrely, seems like a novel cameo in her own story of world domination. So, can she do the pop star's main job, step out on stage to sing, dance and dazzle?
Of course she can. A year on from closing Glastonbury, she struts imperiously through Anfield like she owns it, bringing singalong hits, declarations of love and a pyrotechnics-heavy set to leave the audience – for much of the night, if not all (including a fan interaction tumbleweed moment) – captivated.
She opens strongly with a slow, then suddenly frenetic, rendition of Training Season and it’s not too long before she drops One Kiss – gamely repeated during the encore, but it can’t compete with the euphoric reception of the first time, as Anfield bounces and a ray of sunlight bursts through the cloud and rain.
Inviting hometown hero Dave McCabe to perform Valerie – in The Zutons’ original style, though sadly without the saxophone – is a lovely touch which is met with appreciative hugs and sways.
Her own band are sharp, the dancers non-stop, and Dua’s vocals aided vitally by excellent backing singers.
Frankly, with a production this slick, it would be hard to fail. Even as she elevates on a rising platform, audaciously facing the hot red Kop in an Everton blue gown, the downpours only enhance the visual drama of the show – her radical optimism wins the day.
Houdini, her most epic song to date, closes the show – and with a puff of smoke, she’s gone. But she can’t have gone far.