When you’re backstage on a world tour, there’s an energy most people will never experience: a heady mix of nerves, pure excitement and passion that only those involved truly understand. No two tours are the same, each carrying its own energy, stories and memories. Nobody knows that more than our founder Dua, and the team that brought her Radical Optimism tour to life.
On the final stretch of Dua's tour late last year, we stepped into that world in Bogotá, Colombia, spending time with the musicians onstage with her, night after night. Away from the stadium lights and a sea of fans, this was where the real rhythm of tour life lived: in the rituals repeated every evening, the nerves and adrenaline before walking onstage, and the belly laughs that never make it into the spotlight – but make the show what it is.
If you caught the tour last year, you could feel this energy from the minute everyone came onstage. There was a joy that felt unforced and deeply shared. “We just hope everyone can see how much fun we are having,” says the band’s multi-instrumentalist Sophie Galpin – and (not that we’re biased) everyone absolutely could. From locking eyes with fans in intimate moments that somehow still existed in front of 60,000 people, to pre-show rituals that live on as cherished memories, this tour was packed with once-in-a-lifetime experiences for everyone involved.
So, who are the people behind that energy? The band is made up of bass player Matthew “Matty” Carroll, drummer Adam “Smiley” Wade, Georgie Ward on keys, Alex Lanyon shredding on guitar and Sophie adding layers of brilliance throughout. Completing the picture were backing vocalists Ciara O’Connor and Naomi Scarlett. Their tight chemistry and playful energy onstage created space for experimentation, spontaneity and moments that could only happen live.
The tour’s ever-evolving lineup of cover songs – all 56 of them – quickly became a highlight each night. Carefully chosen to reflect the city or country Dua was in, the covers acted as playful love letters to everywhere the tour touched. Throughout the run, local artists also joined Dua on stage to perform their own songs with her, with icons including Chaka Khan, Lionel Richie and Gwen Stefani among the star-studded line-ups. From rehearsing and learning songs at lightning speed to making them feel unmistakably ‘Dua’ by showtime, the process was equal parts chaotic and joyful. For the band, it was a chance to stretch creatively and have fun together on stage; for the audience, it was an one-time-only thrill – no two nights on the Radical Optimism tour were ever the same.
So come with us and watch as we reminisce on a tour that meant everything to so many people and get to know the ones who have stood alongside Dua, many of them from the very beginning, sharing the journey and the pure passion of creating something unforgettable together...
