DODIE BRINGS INTIMATE CONNECTION TO HER BIGGEST SHOW YET

At the final show of her ‘Build A Problem’ UK tour, Dodie fills the Apollo stage with ease, soaking up the love from the crowd who helped her get there.

The scale of this legendary venue doesn’t appear to intimidate the 26-year-old singer, who’s dancing barefoot around a stage laid out with bedroom furniture. It’s a fitting set-up - for so many of her fans, this is exactly how they found her: making YouTube videos in her room as they watched from theirs.

That personal connection has defined Dodie’s career, and tonight it’s being celebrated. An impromptu standing ovation takes hold halfway through the show, led by her friends on the balcony. We aren’t just applauding for tonight’s show, although it is the biggest of her career to date. We’re applauding for the conclusion of the tour, the release of her debut album, the personal and professional journey that she’s taken to get here. If there was ever a time to have an ‘I made it’ moment, this seems to be it. “I feel like I know all of you”, Dodie finally manages to say as she wipes her eyes. There is certainly a level of confidence and trust between her and the audience tonight, as they take up harmonies and backing vocals without prompt. 

The set starts out with ‘Air So Sweet’, running into ‘Cool Girl’ and ‘I Kissed Someone (It Wasn’t You)’. While the ‘Build A Problem’ album, released in May, is rightfully front and centre, older tracks have also made it into the lineup. ‘Sick of Losing Soulmates’, Dodie’s first ever Spotify song from 2016, feels like the perfect testament to how far she’s come in the last five years. Weeks after that release, she played a show at Bush Hall small enough to hold a spontaneous meet and greet at the end. Now, she’s playing it to thousands.

Stripped-back instrumentals and brutally honest lyrics are the hallmarks of Dodie’s sound, but they find particular impact on ‘When’, a hauntingly beautiful number that sees Dodie ruminate on past relationships and her struggles with depersonalisation disorder. “I love playing that song, because I think my feelings about it have changed”, she explains afterwards. “I used to feel very sad every time I sang it, and then I sort of processed that pain, and now when I sing it it’s sung with love, you know?”. 

Fittingly, there seems to be an endless supply of love tonight. When someone in the pit needs to get out, a channel is immediately created for them - a demonstration of the community’s care for one another. “I feel really safe here”, Dodie beams, before launching into ‘Rainbow’. Lights flood the stage with pride colours, before turning pink, purple and blue for ‘She’. The group at the barricade have brought their own flags along, and the crowd sings as loud as they ever have. Dodie has been open about her bisexuality for years, and tonight is an opportunity for her community to celebrate together. 

As the set nears its end, you can see how much it’s meant to Dodie and her band. This show is as candid as her music, with a personal connection not lost by the room’s grandeur.

The venue isn’t the only thing that’s had a glow up since 2016, either; at Bush Hall, what were essentially five big party poppers all stubbornly refused to go off during the final song. Tonight, on the last beat drop of ‘In The Middle’, two enormous cannons send confetti raining down over the crowd, who erupt into another standing ovation louder than I’ve heard in months.

Image Credits: Millie Hudson | @shotbymillie