Saturday night saw the 3Olympia packed and buzzing for Orla Gartland’s sold-out headline show. A dream gig for the Dublin-born artist, it was clearly a full-circle moment as she delivered a set that was both meticulously crafted and electrifyingly chaotic.

Before she took the stage, openers Niamh Regan and Hohnen Ford offered softer, stripped-back performances. Regan’s acoustic guitar and clear vocals created a warm stillness, while Ford’s set, built around soft piano, was equally absorbing. Both artists held the room with ease, effortlessly charming and vocally commanding in a way that felt quietly powerful.

Orla’s set opened with a dramatic shift in energy. Her stage featured a glowing red triangle with her name in neon, flanked by two mini-stages for her band, the lighting shifting colours throughout the night.

The first song of the night, ‘SOUND OF LETTING GO’, saw her alone at the mic (one of the few moments she wasn’t wielding a guitar), backed by euphoric drums and a pulsing bass that set a mysterious, moody, and cinematic tone.

Orla Gartland at 3Olympia Theatre. Copyright by Curtis DeSmith.

The momentum didn’t falter as she launched into ‘Kiss Ur Face Forever’, ‘Codependency’, and ‘Three Words Away’, the audience erupting into a chorus of voices as the driving rhythm kept the energy high.

“No big deal, just my dream venue on a Saturday night,” she grinned, effortlessly funny and magnetic throughout. Her personality filled the entire room, bright, hilarious, and unapologetically herself.

Orla's facial expressions throughout were captivating. Every word was performed with complete emotional precision as the frenzied drums had everyone jumping.

‘oh GOD’ followed, its soft verses bursting into an explosive, chant-along chorus. “I couldn’t not play ‘oh GOD’ in the home of Catholic guilt,” she joked, throwing a cheeky air fist bump as the crowd broke into spontaneous chants of “Orla, Orla” to the tune of “Ole Ole.”

Slower tracks like ‘More Like You’, from her debut album, and ‘Mine’ gave the night its emotional centre. The songs’ stripped-back structure and steady flow allowed her vocals to shine. ‘Madison’, from Woman on the Internet, followed a perfectly timed bit of deadpan humour: “My family is here, which is very exciting, but it also means that I have to state for legal reasons that all the lyrics about my mam are not real.”

Orla Gartland at 3Olympia Theatre. Copyright by Curtis DeSmith.

Her bandmates, Sara and Scarlet, added so much to the show through tight musicianship, visible chemistry, and commanding presence. After came ‘Simple’, a sweet but jumpy track that Orla introduced with mock sincerity, saying: “It could be an Irish thing, I really struggle to be sincere lads, it’s a curse. I’ll tell you what I find easy to write, songs that are like ‘I love you, but…’ It’s my whole shtick. But what is much more difficult is 'I love you, no buts'", she gagged theatrically. “This is my best attempt at one.”

One of the many standouts of the night was the title track of her 2019 EP Why Am I Like This?. The clear fan favourite began softly and gradually swelled with layered guitars and drums. The crowd sang the final lines back to her in an emotional crescendo that had the room buzzing.

Orla also performed her unreleased song ‘Now What?’, which comes out later today as part of the extended version of her newest album Everybody Needs a Hero. A melodic, percussion-heavy tune that carried a nostalgic undercurrent.

Bringing the emotional section of the set to a close, she launched into a vibrant cover of Chappell Roan’s ‘Supernova’. ‘Backseat Driver’ had the crowd split into echoing halves for the chorus as she ran across the stage, mic outstretched in what was one of the night’s best moments. ‘Zombie!’ kept the energy sky-high before the final track, ‘Late To The Party’, where she switched with Sara to play drums.

Orla Gartland at 3Olympia Theatre. Copyright by Curtis DeSmith.

The audience, aching for an encore, erupted into chants of “one more tune”, and sure enough, Orla returned, now wearing a cape alongside her bandmates in a playful nod to Everybody Needs a Hero. Some fans had come in red capes too, and the crowd lit up phone lights to form an Irish flag.

The singer brought a fan onstage to spin a wheel to choose the next song, which landed on ‘I Go Crazy’. Later, she sent the 3Olympia into uproar with: “I can’t be at my dream venue and not attempt a stage dive,” and then did exactly that.

The night ended with the stirring title track ‘Everybody Needs a Hero’ and the exhilarating ‘Little Chaos’, her vocals soaring above lingering drums and expansive guitar swells. “It’s a privilege to be here as an independent artist, no man telling me what to do,” she cheered. The show closed on a perfect note, joyous, cathartic, and completely her own, a true class act that cannot be missed.