{"id":1025213,"date":"2026-08-26T12:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1025213\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T12:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:31:17","slug":"olivia-deans-first-date-with-houston-is-a-roaring-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1025213\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Dean’s First Date With Houston Is A Roaring Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olivia Dean<\/strong>
Toyota Center<\/strong>
August 25, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Love, as Joe \u201cKing\u201d Carrasco once said, is a many-splendored thing. It\u2019s the subject of countless poems, songs, and embarrassing letters your parents wrote each other. It also set the foundation for Olivia Dean\u2019s first ever show in Houston.<\/p>\n

The 27-year old Brit has released two full-length albums to date. Her most recent, The Art of Loving, topped the charts in the UK and several other countries (peaking at No. 3 on this side of the Pond). This tour also comes on the heels of her 2026 Grammy win for Best New Artist. In short, the timing for her inaugural date in H-Town couldn\u2019t have been better.<\/p>\n

Granted, \u201cThe Art of Loving Live\u201d sounds less like the name of a tour and more like an act that\u2019ll get you arrested on indecency charges. Still, Dean is unapologetic in her insistence that love is something we all deserve. And her frequent assertions of such to the audience ended up more positive than insistent. It was, in short, a real big sister vibe kind of evening.<\/p>\n

That positivity was apparent from the jump, with Dean bringing plenty of energy and joy (and bringing the crowd to their feet) for the opener \u201cNice to Each Other.\u201d She then asked if there were any ladies in the audience (spoiler: there were) as an introduction to \u201cLady Lady,\u201d where she sang about \u201cgrowing on\u201d and \u201cgrowing into\u201d unexpected changes.<\/p>\n

She then made the first of many references to this being her first ever show in Houston, thanking us for selling out the Toyota Center. She\u2019d later comment that she wished \u201call first dates could be this good.\u201d I appreciated the stage setup, a callback to the tiered setup of variety shows of yore. They also compensated for the under-construction TC\u2019s lack of Jumbotrons by projecting enlarged images on the upstage curtain.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Easy\u201d was introduced as a song about loving yourself (sensing a theme?), while \u201cLet Alone the One You Love\u201d came with an explanation that the song \u2014 and the new album itself \u2014 were Dean\u2019s response to bell hooks\u2019 book All About Love. But if you think all this talk about l\u2019amour was a lot \u2026 sure. But then, Dean\u2019s songs are surprisingly brief. I think the \u201clongest\u201d of the show \u2014 \u201cLadies Room\u201d \u2014 clocks in at 3:40. So she can be allowed a little garrulousness.<\/p>\n

\u201cMessy,\u201d from her first album of the same name, kicked off an acoustic mini set. This included \u201cUFO\u201d and \u201cTouch Your Toes.\u201d This was followed by the exuberant \u201cCarmen,\u201d dedicated to Dean\u2019s Caribbean grandmother. She also chose that song to express her support and affection for immigrants. To my relief, the crowd was vociferous in their support.<\/p>\n

\"oliviaOlivia Dean at MSG. Credit: Lola Mansell<\/p>\n

The funky (her word) \u201cEcho\u201d came next, followed by the now-familiar trip to the secondary stage in the middle of Toyota Center for \u201cLoud,\u201d \u201cA Couple Minutes,\u201d and the straight bangin\u2019 (as the youths say) \u201cThe Hardest Part.\u201d<\/p>\n

She returned to the main stage for the final stretch. And as if to emphasize the dance vibe of the last section \u2014 we got disco balls strategically places throughout the arena.\u00a0They illuminated the likes of \u201cBaby Steps,\u201d a cover of Curtis Mayfield\u2019s \u201cMove On Up\u201d (including band introductions) and \u201cIt Isn\u2019t Perfect But It Might Be,\u201d from that Bridget Jones movie I forgot existed.<\/p>\n

Closing with arguably her two biggest songs, \u201cDive\u201d and \u201cMan I Need,\u201d Dean demonstrated impressive mastery over the crowd for one so young. Fittingly, it was one of the more enthusiastic Toyota Center audiences I\u2019ve seem in some time. Olivia Dean\u2019s music wouldn\u2019t have been unrecognizable either in the dance-y \u201970s or during the \u201990s rise of neo soul. Songs like \u201cThe Hardest Part\u201d and \u201cNice To Each Other\u201d have that same upbeat tempo and singalong quality of those early jams. Others, notably \u201cA Couple Minutes,\u201d feel like they\u2019d fit in alongside R&B legends like Sam Cooke and Diana Ross.<\/p>\n

Artists recalling bygone eras are nothing new. Hell, there\u2019s practically a constitutional amendment mandating a new Led Zeppelin knockoff emerges every ten years or so. But Dean breathes new life into her love songs, be they uplifting or suffused with longing. More than that, they\u2019re comforting. You can imagine kicking back in a dimly lit room, maybe with a glass of wine, and enjoying a good hang with her music.<\/p>\n

Well, maybe *you* can. I have three kids.<\/p>\n

I confess, I went into last night\u2019s show with a heavy heart. I\u2019m a huge fan of Dolly Parton. Her music was in near-constant rotation in my house growing up. I\u2019ve written about my love of 9 to 5<\/a>. And just last Christmas my wife bought me surprise tickets to her Vegas residency. That was postponed\/canceled in May and now \u2026 yeah. I thank Olivia Dean both for playing \u201c9 to 5\u201d as the final bumper song as well as paying tribute to her during the show. It really helped.<\/p>\n

How Was The Opener?<\/strong> Baby Rose\u2019s latest album is called Yearnalism, and she leaned pretty hard on that pun her entire set (asserting we\u2019d all majored in it, for example). Think of a funkier Anita Baker. She won the crowd over with a slow jam cover of \u201cLandslide\u201d and a shout out to Dolly.<\/p>\n

Ask A 17-Year Old:<\/strong>
ME: How would you describe her show?
17Y-O: In one word: ethereal.<\/p>\n

Personal Bias:<\/strong> I\u2019m getting to that age where new music misses me more often than not. Olivia Dean was not on my radar until several months ago, but holy hell, what a talent.<\/p>\n

The Crowd:<\/strong> More polka dots than a dalmatian convention.<\/p>\n

Overheard In The Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cAre you Snapping this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Random Notebooks App Dump:<\/strong> \u201cHoly shit! A sax solo!\u201d<\/p>\n

SET LIST<\/strong>
The Art of Loving (Intro)
Nice to Each Other
Lady Lady
So Easy (To Fall in Love)
Close Up
Let Alone the One You Love
Messy
UFO
Touching Toes
Something Inbetween
I\u2019ve Seen It
Carmen
Echo
Time
Loud
A Couple Minutes
The Hardest Part
Baby Steps
Ladies Room
Move On Up (Curtis Mayfield cover)
OK Love You Bye
It Isn\u2019t Perfect But It Might Be
Dive
Man I Need<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olivia DeanToyota CenterAugust 25, 2026 Love, as Joe \u201cKing\u201d Carrasco once said, is a many-splendored thing. It\u2019s the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1025214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[12730,4345,117689,358,294719,3187],"class_list":["post-1025213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-homepage","tag-houston","tag-olivia-dean","tag-texas","tag-toyota-center-houston","tag-tx"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}