Live Review: Orla Gartland - O2 Kentish Town Forum, London 03/04/2025
Orla Gartland was indeed everybody’s hero on Thursday evening with a knockout show at London’s Kentish Town Forum.
Irish singer-songwriter Orla Gartland, currently in the middle of her HERO tour through the UK and Europe, took to the stage Thursday evening at London’s Kentish Town Forum. Gartland has been harnessing her craft since 2012, releasing five EPs before releasing her first album back in 2021, Woman on the Internet. She joined the indie-pop band Fizz in 2023 with best mates and fellow musicians Dodie, Greta Issac and Martin Luke Brown before venturing back into the solo-sphere. Gartland has not stopped or slowed down once, going on to release her second album, Everybody Needs A Hero, through her own independent record label, New Friends last year. It is entirely unsurprising that she is so well-loved, and her fans well and truly showed up on Thursday night. People of all ages queued to enter Kentish Town Forum, many of them donning shirts and red ties - stables in Gartland’s wardrobe. An air of excitement surrounded the place as the doors opened, welcoming people to the party.
A constant advocate for women in the music industry, it was only natural for Gartland to have two female support acts. Twst, a Welsh London-based electro-pop singer and producer, and British singer-songwriter, Hohnen Ford. Twst was fun from the get-go, soaking up the attention from the crowd as she bounced around the stage, her sound entirely unique and futuristic. Tracks like Are You Filming Me? and Catch Me were infectious, getting under your skin immediately. The crowd swayed along happily with twst, who seemed to be truly enjoying herself on stage. Hohnen Ford followed, and with nothing but her keyboard and her voice, she captivated the audience. Ford sang a mix of released songs like Another Lifetime, which she admitted was about having a crush on a teacher, as well as new songs like Buy A Return Ticket, saying she was inspired by the “rats” of New York when writing it. Ford’s performance was heartachingly stunning, her voice drifting through the venue, lingering long after she had finished.
Spirits were high as Orla Gartland came out to a crowd practically bubbling over with excitement, running onto the stage to Bonnie Tyler’s Holding Out For A Hero, draped in a red cape, the hero of the evening. Joined by her band, known as The Divas, she kicked off the show with SOUND OF LETTING GO from her latest album, the crowd singing along to every word. The angsty indie-pop track Kiss Ur Face Forever followed, elation clearly visible on everyone’s faces as the crowd danced below her.
Gartland is a natural performer, graceful on the stage, with an infectious presence, interacting with the crowd as well as her band members, Sarah and Scarlett. Joy radiated from her and The Divas, the strong relationship between them evident. Gartland’s setlist spanned across her discography - with the first tracks being high-energy, the singer practically flying around the stage, cape billowing behind her. It felt like a celebration, a party, with the crowd proving their love and loyalty time and time again by knowing every word to every song.
While Gartland is full of energy, soaking it in from the crowd, she was also happy to slow things down - bringing out her most beloved acoustic guitar for More Like You, from her first album Woman on the Internet. She slowed it down even further when The Divas left the stage, joking as she took centre stage on a small platform, that you could tell it was about to get sad and lonely when the band leave. The singer stood solo on the stage like a vision, performing songs Madison, Simple and Mine flawlessly. There was uproar for her viral track Why Am I Like This? which has been featured on Netflix’s hit series Heartstopper. Before she started the track, however, Gartland took a moment to speak about being an independent artist and how much work is involved in that. She addressed the fact that she must pay for everything herself, also noting that she “never sleeps, but I do get to be the boss.” It’s nothing short of impressive, and she deserved all of the cheers she received when she said “We did it lads, Kentish fucking Forum,” proof that hard work and self-belief really does pay off.
Gartland also treated fans to a brand-new song, Now What? which was the final slow song of the evening, promising “it’s all party from here on out, no more slow stuff.” And a party it was, as The Divas came back and started to play punchy track Backseat Driver, with all of Kentish Town being able to hear the screams of “I wouldn’t trust me either.” Gartland spoiled fans even more with a cover of Chappell Roan’s Red Wine Supernova, joking that she wished she had written the song herself. The energy in the venue was electric, people grinning from ear to ear. A heartwarming sight to behold, fans of all ages, children to older adults, being soaked in the magic that is Orla Gartland and the infectious, exuberant energy that pours out of her.
It is clear to see why Gartland has gathered the following that she has; she is passionate, funny, lovable. Before performing the “last” song of the evening, Late To The Party, Gartland joked with the crowd, “This is the final song, and then I am going to go off stage for 40 seconds while you all shout my name, then I will run back on and sing some more.” Which is exactly what happened. She disappeared, the red cape vanishing from sight, and a course of “Orla” rose to the ceiling.
Gartland ran back out to screams, pulling a spinning carnival wheel with her. She quickly turned the show into an interactive experience, choosing a fan to come up and spin the wheel to decide on the encore track. She pulled up one lucky fan, Abbie, who had gone through open heart surgery listening to Gartland’s 2019 hit, Flatline. Some might say it was rigged, but it was definitely a lucky coincidence that the wheel landed on that song. The penultimate track of the night was the title track to her album, Everybody Needs a Hero, which had friends and strangers draping arms around each other’s shoulders as Gartland crooned, “No woman can be an island, but I can sure as hell try”. It was followed by a fiery performance of Little Chaos. Arms in the air, Orla and the crowd gave it their all, the final song before the end of the party, everything being left on the stage.
Orla Gartland, everybody’s hero, shone like a diamond on Thursday night. Energies were high from start to finish, and as the crowd came back down to earth, slowly filing out of the Forum, adoration and praise for Orla and her Divas could be heard all over the place.
Words by Angela English
Photography by Sam Strutt
