Honeymooner

Hey everyone,
 
I apologize if a similar topic to this is around, but I wasn't able to find it. It has come up during some of the "Shows" threads, but I thought perhaps it deserves its own thread.
 
A lot of people have been discussing disappointment at how Lana hasn't been singing more Ultraviolence songs during her recent concerts. I know "Shades of Cool" was debuted live at Hollywood Forever on October 18. For the most part, though, she has generally only sung about 4 or 5 UV songs, and the rest have been from Born To Die and Paradise (and the occasional cover).
 
Here's what I have to say about that:
 
So what?
 
I'm probably going to get flamed for this... But let's think about it. Pretty much any artist you see will perform both older and newer songs when they give a concert. We're not all going to go to every single LDR concert, and she knows that, just like any other artist. For example, I've seen Weird Al in concert 4 times, the first time being 1997 or 98, and every single time, he has sung either "Fat" or "Eat It" (or both), despite those being among his older hits. Why? Because the fans like them! He's trying to appeal to the older and newer fans alike, and to those who like his older music and his newer music. Of course, LDR doesn't have as many albums out and hasn't been around as long, but she still knows that there are people who attend her concerts who LOVE the Born To Die and Paradise music just as much, if not moreso, than the Ultraviolence music. And, of course, there are those who like the UV music better. My point is that she wants to appeal to as much of her audience as she can. There's nothing that says she has to do an "Ultraviolence Tour" in which she ONLY sings UV songs. I'd bet that if she's still performing live 20 years from now, she'll still sing "Video Games" at every concert. Why? Because there will be people who WANT to hear it.
 
Some have also said that her set list is boring, because it is largely unchanged. There's a reason for that, too: If an artist performs more-or-less the same songs each time, the songs will only get better and better. They can also make subtle changes in notes, durations, and even lyrics, without throwing off the rest of the band. They're just that comfortable with the music that they can handle little alterations without any problem. And of course, Lana herself won't forget the words to a song she's sung 1000 times, right?
 
Discussion welcome!

Hey everyone,
 
I apologize if a similar topic to this is around, but I wasn't able to find it. It has come up during some of the "Shows" threads, but I thought perhaps it deserves its own thread.
 
A lot of people have been discussing disappointment at how Lana hasn't been singing more Ultraviolence songs during her recent concerts. I know "Shades of Cool" was debuted live at Hollywood Forever on October 18. For the most part, though, she has generally only sung about 4 or 5 UV songs, and the rest have been from Born To Die and Paradise (and the occasional cover).
 
Here's what I have to say about that:
 
So what?
 
I'm probably going to get flamed for this... But let's think about it. Pretty much any artist you see will perform both older and newer songs when they give a concert. We're not all going to go to every single LDR concert, and she knows that, just like any other artist. For example, I've seen Weird Al in concert 4 times, the first time being 1997 or 98, and every single time, he has sung either "Fat" or "Eat It" (or both), despite those being among his older hits. Why? Because the fans like them! He's trying to appeal to the older and newer fans alike, and to those who like his older music and his newer music. Of course, LDR doesn't have as many albums out and hasn't been around as long, but she still knows that there are people who attend her concerts who LOVE the Born To Die and Paradise music just as much, if not moreso, than the Ultraviolence music. And, of course, there are those who like the UV music better. My point is that she wants to appeal to as much of her audience as she can. There's nothing that says she has to do an "Ultraviolence Tour" in which she ONLY sings UV songs. I'd bet that if she's still performing live 20 years from now, she'll still sing "Video Games" at every concert. Why? Because there will be people who WANT to hear it.
 
Some have also said that her set list is boring, because it is largely unchanged. There's a reason for that, too: If an artist performs more-or-less the same songs each time, the songs will only get better and better. They can also make subtle changes in notes, durations, and even lyrics, without throwing off the rest of the band. They're just that comfortable with the music that they can handle little alterations without any problem. And of course, Lana herself won't forget the words to a song she's sung 1000 times, right?
 
Discussion welcome!

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! As I'm still somewhat new here, I don't know all the little hidden treasures yet.

Personally, I think there are parts she likes and parts she doesn't.
 
Recall that earlier this year, she talked about how she was (is?) suffering from a mystery illness that plagues her when she's on tour. Some have speculated that it's a stomach ulcer, a la Kurt Cobain, but nothing has been confirmed. (She's been pretty tight-lipped on the specifics.) It's not even certain whether that same illness is what made her cancel her European appearances last month.
 
There may be days that she feels great, and others where she doesn't, and I'm sure that affects her mood on stage. Perhaps when she's not feeling well, it reflects in the mood on stage and she appears to be over the whole concept of touring. But she has also said on many occasions that she loves her fans and their support, and I can't imagine her not wanting to continue that interaction.
 
I can imagine, though, that she's probably tired of the paparazzi following her around everywhere, though, especially in New York. I've seen older videos from 2012 and 2013 where they talk to her and she talks to them and is friendly and cordial with them. But in more recent videos, her air is more of a "leave me the f--- alone!" So perhaps she's just tired of being in the media spotlight so much? Especially since they seem to love to delve into her personal life, i.e. her relation ship with Francesco Carrozzini and how they were making it seem like he was cheating on her, etc. etc. That kind of stuff would grow tiresome for anyone after a while. Perhaps she regrets that part of stardom, but the rest? Nah, I doubt it.

Personally, I think there are parts she likes and parts she doesn't.
 
Recall that earlier this year, she talked about how she was (is?) suffering from a mystery illness that plagues her when she's on tour. Some have speculated that it's a stomach ulcer, a la Kurt Cobain, but nothing has been confirmed. (She's been pretty tight-lipped on the specifics.) It's not even certain whether that same illness is what made her cancel her European appearances last month.
 
There may be days that she feels great, and others where she doesn't, and I'm sure that affects her mood on stage. Perhaps when she's not feeling well, it reflects in the mood on stage and she appears to be over the whole concept of touring. But she has also said on many occasions that she loves her fans and their support, and I can't imagine her not wanting to continue that interaction.
 
I can imagine, though, that she's probably tired of the paparazzi following her around everywhere, though, especially in New York. I've seen older videos from 2012 and 2013 where they talk to her and she talks to them and is friendly and cordial with them. But in more recent videos, her air is more of a "leave me the f--- alone!" So perhaps she's just tired of being in the media spotlight so much? Especially since they seem to love to delve into her personal life, i.e. her relation ship with Francesco Carrozzini and how they were making it seem like he was cheating on her, etc. etc. That kind of stuff would grow tiresome for anyone after a while. Perhaps she regrets that part of stardom, but the rest? Nah, I doubt it.

PCD?  Post-Concert Depression?  I feel ya.  Despite enjoying the concert on Friday, I was bumming out on the way home and most of Saturday since I didn't get my selfie with Lana.  But I'm hoping at the gates, they'll tell me... errr, I mean, I'm hoping there will be another opportunity in the future.

That was awesome. Thanks for posting!!

Here's my recording of her singing "Old Money."  Sorry it's kinda shaky; I was on maximum zoom.  Also, she kept disappearing behind that stupid column and the barrier at the left of the stage, but at least you can hear her the whole time.  Interesting how she changed one of the lyrics from "those summer nights" to "those Jersey nights..."
 

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!

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!

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!

She did sound beautiful, that's for sure!  She looked over in this general direction a couple of times, though not specifically at me... I was somewhat far away. Too bad I wasn't a good enough fan to get a selfie

Here's my recording of her singing "Old Money."  Sorry it's kinda shaky; I was on maximum zoom.  Also, she kept disappearing behind that stupid column and the barrier at the left of the stage, but at least you can hear her the whole time.  Interesting how she changed one of the lyrics from "those summer nights" to "those Jersey nights..."
 

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!

Here's my recording of her singing "Old Money."  Sorry it's kinda shaky; I was on maximum zoom.  Also, she kept disappearing behind that stupid column and the barrier at the left of the stage, but at least you can hear her the whole time.  Interesting how she changed one of the lyrics from "those summer nights" to "those Jersey nights..."
 

Here's my recording of her singing "Old Money."  Sorry it's kinda shaky; I was on maximum zoom.  Also, she kept disappearing behind that stupid column and the barrier at the left of the stage, but at least you can hear her the whole time.  Interesting how she changed one of the lyrics from "those summer nights" to "those Jersey nights..."
 

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!

Here's my recording of her singing "Old Money."  Sorry it's kinda shaky; I was on maximum zoom.  Also, she kept disappearing behind that stupid column and the barrier at the left of the stage, but at least you can hear her the whole time.  Interesting how she changed one of the lyrics from "those summer nights" to "those Jersey nights..."
 

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!

Here's my recording of her singing "Old Money."  Sorry it's kinda shaky; I was on maximum zoom.  Also, she kept disappearing behind that stupid column and the barrier at the left of the stage, but at least you can hear her the whole time.  Interesting how she changed one of the lyrics from "those summer nights" to "those Jersey nights..."
 

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.

Like a baby... Spin me round like a CHILE
 
in american changed my life

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

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