Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

There’s an argument to be made that Lana Del Rey is one of the biggest stars in music right now.  While her name has been well known for quite some time, widespread critical success hasn’t completely followed.  Her voice is undeniably gorgeous but her fiercely independent spirit has left the male dominated arena of music criticism often clutching their pearls. Admittedly, nothing she had written up until her most recent album, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, has come come close to the beauty and complexity that album offers.  It feels like Lana has truly come into her own and the music world has no choice but to shut up and listen. 

All the hype around this album was an amazing prelude to her concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles last Thursday.  With most of her songs centering around LA, this show was guaranteed to be special. The night got off to a rocky start with Lana coming on over an hour late.  She tweeted out that the delay was due to traffic that her guests were in. Disappointing, but it was exciting to hear she would have some friends joining her. Just after 9:00pm, Lana took the stage to one of the loudest ovations I’ve heard for an artist.  Yes, an extra hour to wait meant another bottle of red for Lana’s fans, but the excitement was genuine and palpable.  

She began with the title track to her new album.  She waltzed through a lovely rendition of the slow burner with her fans screaming after every iconic line.  Two songs later, she brought out Zella Day and Weyes Blood for a haunting rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “For Free”.  The three sat down, casually put their feet into the small pond created a few hours before by the set designers, and seemingly serenaded each other with the Mitchell classic.  After burning through fan favorites “Mariners Apartment Complex” and “Blue Jeans”, Chris Isaak came on stage on joined Lana for a rendition of his cult classic “Wicked Games”.  The rest of the evening brought more guests and more covers.  Sean Lennon came out for a duet of “Tomorrow Never Came”, Adam Cohen joined Lana for a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Chelsea Hotel #2”, super producer and Normal Fucking Rockwell! collaborator Jack Antonoff played piano on “Hope is a Dangerous Thing…”, and Jesse Rutherford of the Neighborhood helped cover his own song, “Daddy Issues”. 

While all these “one-time-only” song went over well, it was her hits that connected with the crowd most effectively.  Late highlights included the anthemic “Ride” and closer “Venice Bitch”.  One of the biggest takeaways from this show was how comfortable Lana seemed on stage and with the adoration of her fans.  Her stage set up resembled a casually posh LA hangout spot.  Nothing flashy but ready for Instagram.  She’d go on and off stage taking selfies and accepting gifts from fans.  On paper this sounds like a little narcissistic but in the moment it just looked like a pop star at the height of her powers understanding where she is and enjoying it.  The 17,000+ at the Bowl certainly were. 

By: Andrew Ameter | Exclusively for Music, Why Not!

****