The Neon Nature Tour is the third concert tour by Welsh recording artist Marina (formerly known as Marina and the Diamonds) in support of her third studio album, Froot (2015). The tour was officially announced three months after the release of the album, on 23 June 2015. The tour began on 12 October 2015, in Houston, Texas at the Revention Music Center and concluded on March 20, 2016, in Santiago, Chile, with a total of fifty-two shows over six months.
Background
After the release of Froot, Diamandis embarked on a promotional concert tour that was mostly composed of festival performances during the spring and summer of 2015. During the series of promotional concerts, Diamandis expressed an interest in doing a formal concert tour in the fall of that year. In April 2015, when speaking about the tour, Diamandis said "I think I’m calling my tour the Neon Nature tour. Creating this cyber garden on-stage, something exotic, but electrical."
Two months after the initial idea was expressed, on 23 June 2015, the tour's North American leg was officially announced with nineteen dates over two months. About two weeks after the tour's initial announcement, on 6 July 2015, the tour's European leg was announced with ten dates across the United Kingdom and Ireland. As the tour began to develop, additional dates were added to both legs of the tour.
On 5 April 2016, Diamandis posted a picture to Instagram following the conclusion of her tour, along with a statement on Twitter, marking the end of the Froot era, with Weeds being the only track on the album never performed live in the entirety of the Froot era and her career.
Development
In the months leading up to the tour, Diamandis began to tease what the tour's visual concept and theme would be. In an interview, Diamandis stated, "With the Neon Nature Tour, I really like the idea of taking natural things and blending them. I feel like it's something I’m always interested in anyway, and I feel like it's also something a lot of people connect to, like, 'How can you live a life that's natural while still progressing and being part of the technological world.' So the themes for Neon Nature involve a lot of flowers, fruit, very surreal elements … but it's definitely the biggest kind of tour I’ve ever done production-wise. I want to see what people think." She also revealed how the setlist would be structured as well as what type of merchandise will be for sale on the tour. When speaking of the setlist for the tour, Diamandis stated, "I have three acts in the show. My first act is devoted to my first album (The Family Jewels), the second is my second album, and the third is Froot. It's something I’ve wanted to do for a while. Each era has such a defined look that it didn’t make sense for me to mix them. I quite like theatre, and this is a theatrical show. It felt good to put it into three acts. I don’t think that often happens in alternative shows." When discussing what the merchandise stand would consist of, Diamandis exclaimed, "Well, I plan to go one up from what I’ve done in the past. I really want to do scratch and sniff T-shirts. Maybe those Global Hypercolor ones. I want to put my colour palette onto eye shadows and nail varnish. I also want glow in the dark T-shirts that people can buy and then be part of the show."
Concert synopsis
The show is split into three acts, each one devoted to an album by Diamandis, beginning with "The Family Jewels". During most, but not all, shows, the show is performed on a double stage, comprising the venue's original stage floor and a balcony-style stage above three video screens. The show's opener, "Mowgli's Road" is performed. While during most of the United Kingdom and North American leg of the tour, Diamandis enters wearing either one of two outfits designed by Paula Knorr, featuring headbands with two jewels on them. During the European and South American leg of the tour, some of the shows started with Diamandis entering and performing "Mowgli's Road" in an outfit designed by Celia Kritharioti. The show continues with "I Am Not a Robot" and "Oh No!"; Diamandis briefly talks to the audience and moves to a keyboard to perform "Obsessions" while the video screens display footage from Betty Boop shorts. This section closes with a performance of "Hollywood" amid scenes of animated Hollywood. Diamandis leaves the stage for a costume change.