Oliva Dean makes audience ‘feel love, like the real stuff’

Projected onto curtains lit up in pink, one message encapsulated an entire performance:  “Love’s never wasted when it’s shared.” 

On Friday, Oliva Dean returned to Austin for the first time since her 2025 Austin City Limits performance, this time at the Moody Center for her “The Art of Loving” tour. Her silhouette stood out amongst the pink, Dean captured the crowd’s attention as she sang “The Art of Loving (Intro)” before breaking through the curtains, donning a black sequinned dress and performing two of her biggest hits, “Nice To Each Other” and “Lady Lady.”

Her final tour stop, Dean stayed in Austin for two nights, preaching the value of friendship and self love. “You can be your own boyfriend,” she told fans.

“It’s very easy to focus on this one romantic partner that’s going to be everything,” Dean said. “Actually, friendship is one of the strongest forms of love you get to feel.” 

“So Easy (To Fall In Love)” continued the self-love theme before “Close Up” and “Let Alone The One You Love”  marked a pivot into an exploration of the manifestations of true love. 

Following “Messy,” Dean rushed off stage, returning with her guitar and three stools- one for herself and two for her bassists. “UFO” brought tears to the performer’s eyes as the audience held their flashlights in the air, lighting up the area. “Touching Toes” discussed romantic love while “I’ve Seen It” considers a different kind of love: friendship. 

“To really love another person is to want to see them be the best version of themselves,” Dean said. “I realized that I deserve that, I deserve that kind of love … I think we can all be so much more loving to each other in this world, and it’s been my pleasure to be singing about love for the past two months and connecting with everybody.” 

“Carmen,” a song about her grandmother who immigrated to London when she was 18, took an emotional turn, highlighting the importance of unconditional love. “Echo” marked her last main stage performance, her band filling a brief pause with incredible solos before she returned to the b-stage in a flowing white skirt and tight white tanktop. 

“Time,” “Loud,” “A Couple Minutes” and “The Hardest Part,” simple songs with elegant movements, showed off Dean’s gratefulness, captivating the audience before she descended stairs into the crowd. 

During “Baby Steps,” Dean transformed Moody into an interactive experience, attendees dancing in step with Dean as she spun around in her silver fringe dress. “Ladies Room” brought attention to back-up singers Alita Moses and Abena Koomson-Davis, who danced with the singer, playing patty-cake and embodying small acts of girlhood. 

Fans sang along to “Ok Love You Bye” before “It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be” brought intense joy that had friends singing at each other and couples gazing into one another’s eyes. 

Finishing her performance with “Dive,” and “Man I Need,” Dean left the audience feeling cherished, confident and ready to spread love. 

“What I want you to remember is that as much as you need to let love in, you need to give it out as well,” Dean said. “So go and be the big love of somebody else’s life, go and be that love that you feel you deserve in your life, you can be that for somebody else. It will come back to you, so I’m giving you some until the next time I see you.”

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