Honeymooner

Hey everyone, We just got back from Lana's concert at Hollywood Forever on Friday, October 17. So, for whoever may be interested, here's my report on the concert. Before I go farther, here's the set list: Cruel World (the entire song, not just the intro) Cola Body Electric Blue Jeans West Coast Born To Die Ultraviolence Old Money (my favorite of the set.. it was just gorgeous!) Summertime Sadness Million Dollar Man Video Games Ride National Anthem 13 songs, and the concert lasted about 70 minutes. First, let me say that I came away with mixed emotions. The music was great, Lana sang beautifully, and was gorgeous as always. We managed to get a spot at the front, but it was way off to the stage left side, so when Lana came down to greet people during "National Anthem," she didn't get down to where we were. That left me bummed, and I was also hoping we'd see her after the show, but that didn't happen, either. So, while I thoroughly enjoyed the show overall, I was disappointed about those two things. Perhaps I had set my expectations too high and set myself up for disappointment. But I'm not sorry we went. Second, it has hit home that the Paradise Tour days are definitely over. As many of you may already know, I've only been an LDR fan for less than 5 months. I've been watching all of these old Paradise tour videos on YouTube from last year, and was half-expecting a repeat of those performances, including the live string quartet. Well, no live strings tonight, of course, and I've finally had to accept the fact that Lana has moved on from that era of music. While she still performs a lot of Born To Die/Paradise songs, they're performed differently now than they were back then. Makes me wish I'd been a fan 3 years ago. Anyway, here's the rest of the report. First off, I got a reminder e-mail this morning from TicketFly, which alerted me to something that had not been made apparent before: The gates opened at 6, but Lana wasn't scheduled to come on stage until about 8. With that in mind, and since the venue *seemed* to be adamant about the "no lining up before 5 PM" rule, we left home in San Diego around noon, stopped in Huntington Beach to have lunch with a long-time friend, then continued up to LA. We arrived in the vicinity at about 4:30. Even though we had bought the on-site parking, we didn't use it because of something else in the TicketFly e-mail: They said the on-site parking wouldn't be opening until 6, and that off-site parking in another garage would be opening at 5:30. I wanted to be in line by 5:00, so we parked several blocks away and just walked to the venue. It took about 20 minutes. As we walked up Gower St., the street that intersects Santa Monica Blvd., we saw what appeared to be the end of the line. This was at 4:50 PM. So much for no lining up before 5! This is what it looked like at 5 PM: Shortly after 5 PM, though, the line started moving. I didn't know why, but it was moving and kept moving! Finally, as we approached the cemetery's front lawn, I saw why: Apparently, they had set up some wooden stakes with yellow "caution" tape to act as one of those switchback-like things that they use in amusement park lines (the name escapes me at the moment, as it's after 1 AM as I'm writing this), and were having people line up inside that. We were about halfway back. We stood there and waited until 6 PM, and then the gates opened. Mayhem. As soon as the gates opened, there were screams, and suddenly the entire crowd just surged towards the gate, paying no need whatsoever to the wooden stakes with their "caution" tape, simply trampling them down. We were pretty much sucked in. It didn't surge very far, though, as we were funneled into a single entry line, which eventually became 2. That took about half an hour or so. Once we were through the gates, we walked (the security guards kept yelling "DO NOT RUN!!!") down toward the lawn by the stage. We had ended up pretty far back in the entry crowd, yet it seemed that not everyone wanted to be at the front of the stage. A lot of people brought blankets and picnic stuff and were sitting pretty far back. So, we actually got a spot in the front row!! But, we were way off to the stage left side. The viewing angle wasn't too good, as there was a column right where our view of Lana was half of the time as she moved back and forth across the stage. So, we stood there from 6:45 on, and Lana came out on stage at about 8:05. She was wearing a red, long-sleeved dress with a short skirt, showing off those beautiful legs. She came down the stairs briefly to greet the front row during "Cruel World," but only stayed down long enough to greet a few people before going back up. During "West Coast," my wife said she couldn't take the noise anymore (we were very close to the speakers) and wanted to move farther back. We moved back, but I went back and forth a couple of times between where she was, and where we had been at the front. I stayed with her during "Ultraviolence," and then went back up for a bit. Just in time, since the next song was "Old Money," so I could get the whole thing recorded from close up. I stayed up there for "Summertime Sadness," then went back to where my wife was for the rest of the show until Lana announced that her next song would be "National Anthem," and that she would be coming down to greet her fans. At that point, we both went back up to the front, though this time, we were even farther stage left than before, since someone else had taken the spots we had vacated. Lana had earlier requested that the "house front" speakers be turned down, so it was more bearable when we went back up for "National Anthem." Lana did come down off the stage to greet fans and take selfies, but she didn't get all the way over to where we were -- not by a longshot. That was somewhat disappointing, since I've seen videos of previous shows where she would go from end to end. Oh well, win some, lose some. After the show was over, we hung around for a while to see if perhaps she would come out to greet the fans or sign autographs or something. No such luck, I'm afraid; she was gone. So, we made our way back out of the cemetery, walked 20 minutes back to our car, and made the 2.5-hour drive home in about 2.25 hours. And there you have it, folks! My suggestion to anyone going on Saturday: If you want to be in front, get there at 4 PM!

OMG I saw that sign!! Yeah, it seemed she was having some issues with her in-ear monitor. She kept asking them to turn her up, then down, then up... then she did the sound check. She also asked to have the "house fronts" turned down, which I'm guessing were the speakers at the front of the stage pointing out towards the audience. Good thing, because they were really freaking loud at the beginning, but then got better. I have the complete recording. I'll post a link as soon as I've uploaded it to YouTube.

I got an e-mail reminder from TicketFly a little while ago. The venue is apparently being pretty strict about the line. They're saying if anyone lines up or tries to get in before 5 PM, they'll be denied access to the show. The e-mail also said that while lining up is permitted beginning at 5, and the gates open at 6, LDR won't actually be coming out on stage until about 8. I was anticipating a 6 PM concert, but it'll actually be 8, which makes me feel better. We'll have a better chance of getting into the standing-room-only pit area. So who all is going today? Maybe we can meet up before or after the show. Perhaps we can exchange #s or something?

Wow, lots of Lorde hate around here... guess I'll just have to agree to disagree with the lot of you.

Someone at MTV needs an editor. "Her 2014 release 'Ultraviolent'... WTF???? I also often see the album (or the song) listed as "Ultraviolet." Sheesh....

We need #EMABiggestFansLanaDelRey

Just cast my vote, and am looking through other categories. Who is "lizard girl"??

Well, even if the venue enforces the rule, there's nothing to prevent people from lining up across the street, or something, and then making a mad dash for the gate at 5 PM. I guess we'll see what happens when we get there.

I guess we'll just see what happens. I'd be perfectly happy getting there 8+ hours early, but can't get the wife on board with that idea, so we'll shoot for like 3 hours early and try our luck. If it were here in San Diego where we live, then I'd just go ahead of time and let her catch up. But since we have to drive 3 hours to LA first, I can't get her enthused about it.

I don't mind spending the money, if they'd only LET me spend it...

Unfortunately, I couldn't do that one either... aside from not understanding German, the site is asking me for German or Austrian bank information, which of course, I don't have...

Thanks, but that ended up taking me back to the Swiss iTunes store, from which I couldn't purchase anything because my account is only for the U.S. store.

I was listening to "American" on the way home today, and in that song, you can hear that same smile when she gets to the line, in the second verse, "Honey put on that party dress." Specifically, the last 2 words. When a person smiles while they're singing, you can hear a change in their tone, and I'm sure that's what we're hearing both at that point and in "Old Money," at the point you were referring to.

Thanks! I was hoping to just get the one track, but if necessary, I'll buy the full album.

I noticed that too! Makes perfect sense.

Rick Nowels did co-write the song, but I'm interested in who produced it and where it was recorded.

I'm on a roll tonight with the new topics, LOL. In listening to Lana's songs, there are some where you can really hear the feeling/emotion in her voice. I'm curious as to what songs you've noticed that with. There are the ones where I hear it the most: Born To Die Lucky Ones Ride Young and Beautiful Old Money

Does anyone know how I can legitimately purchase the Radio Mix version of West Coast? I can't buy it in the iTunes Store, because my iTunes account will only let me buy songs from the U.S. store, and this song is only sold in certain European stores. I haven't been able to find it elsewhere, either. I really want to own it, but I want to own a legit copy. Any ideas? Thanks!

Is anyone here going to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery show on Friday, October 17? My wife and I are going, but I'm having a hard time getting her on-board with the idea of getting there early to secure a spot. Would anyone who's going and is planning to get there be willing to let us in line with them when we arrive? Or if we get there first, we'll do the same for you. We can exchange phone numbers so we can call or text. Thanks!!

I'm kind of in the same boat as you! But I think we need another choice in the poll... I became a fan of Lana after hearing "Once Upon a Dream" during the movie Maleficent, which we saw in late May 2014. So, it's pretty far past Tropico, but Ultraviolence hadn't been released yet. I don't know if that would be considered "Tropico/Transition," or "Ultraviolence," or neither...

I'm American, and for me, it was kind of the opposite: I discovered Lana because of the movie "Maleficent."

Does anyone know who produced "Is This Happiness" and where it was recorded? Being an iTunes-only bonus track, it's not listed in the CD booklet for Ultraviolence, anI haven't been able to find anything on it other than who wrote it. The style sounds a bit like other songs produced by Dan Auerbach at Easy Eye Studios, but then again, I thought the same thing about "Black Beauty," which was not recorded there or produced by Dan.

Yes, she lived in London for, I believe, about 2 years. Much of "Born To Die" and some of "Paradise" was recorded and/or produced there, too. If you have the album insert, you'll see several references to various studios in London. Also, when she won her second Brit award in 2013, in her (short) acceptance speech, she said "I live here, and I wrote my record here..." I don't know if she's referring to "Born To Die" or "Paradise," or perhaps both (when her name was announced, they played a snippet of "Ride," which is, of course, off of "Paradise"). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVEDFKsagBs I also saw a video of Lana with fans in Mexico, and for the first time, I heard her bodyguard speak. Guess what? He's British! She probably met him there.

I also like the fact that she reached down for those really low notes (way low D-flat below middle C is the lowest one). I've noticed that most of the time when she sings live, if the album version of a song has very low notes, she doesn't usually sing them, possibly because at that range, they wouldn't carry well over the music. But with "Old Money," since the music is somewhat subdued, she can hit the low notes and they'll carry. It adds to the beauty of both the song and her voice.

This is great stuff!! I would also like to suggest including, somewhere before the mention of "Video Games," what Lana has said in early interviews about having lowered her voice so that people would take her more seriously.