Lina Del K

how the hell did we just go from ILUVITILUVITILUVITILUVIT OOH to bartender hold me all night I am crying

Going from Camilla to Bartender is crazy LOL 

From that to bartender only Lana could do this manic level of set list 

NO way we're going from that to Bartender

Old setlist im sorry for what I said about you

Girl chill Lana’s not built for this BPM

It will be easy with her new teeth (allegedly)

Whoever said weekend one is the influencer weekend and two is for the fans was spot on 

that can't be good for her

Can someone super glue Blake into the studio with her 

reminded me of this one so much  

crowd seems sooo much more alive this time im so glad

The high notes… she said I think y’all forgot that I fell out of a tree for this voice

blake looks so good 

She sounds 100x better this time it's insane

Weekend 1 found dead 

Is the UMG stream working for anyone? 

Manifesting same outfit in blood red 

I think Billboard were spot on calling her show "perplexing and profound." It was filled with symbolism and details; some were instant and shocking like the epic entrance, others were more obscure or thoughtful like a hologram. I see this show as a happy ending to the Ocean Blvd era and everything that came with it, especially its message -- mortality, fame and loneliness. Lana entered the Coachella field with a caravan of motorcycles, bikers and dolled-up dancers while unreleased "Jealous Girl" played as a trap remix. She graced the audience with her freshly auburn hair, sparkly baby blue dress and an overall elegance and glamour that only she can pull off these days. The stage design, a tall and detailed old mansion with staircases, balconies, plants and everything, was very reminiscent of the Gatsby mansion, as others have pointed out. Her ballerinas and choir singers looked straight out of a 1930s movie or spectacle, while her band members were rocking ties and smoking jackets.
 

 

 
Coincidentially, what's also from the 1930s is a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard in California. The "subway" as it was called, went all the way under Ocean Boulevard and conducted straight to the beach. It was connected to the Jergins Trust Building, a commercial building with over 60 shops, fancy restaurants, casino and theaters where music and dance events were held all the time; all of this during the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was a privileged moment and location that only lasted a few decades as the building was demolished and the tunnel sealed. As we know, on Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, Lana uses this as a metaphor for her fame, beauty, fertility and even her life -- Nothing lasts forever, as she admits in many songs through her discography, but at least she tries to leave a legacy and a purpose behind. She held this big Jazz Age party on the Coachella Stage, where we were all invited to have a great time and appreciate an old-fashioned show; as @yourolllikethunderperfectly stated, "Lana is a star akin to older generations—when musicians didn’t spend months training, both physically and vocally, for a show or tour, but showed up as they were, just to sing, without all of the fanfare." It's all about the beauty and vulnerability of the moment.
 
"Without You", which Lana hasn't sung in 11 years, was chosen as an unexpected yet gorgeous opener. Describing a life of opulence yet feeling unfulfilled, Lana begins narrating the story of the show. It's followed by "West Coast", a song about having to choose between love and a normal life or pursuing a music career. She chooses the latter, proudly singing California anthem "Doin' Time" and later explores nostalgia and goodbye with "Summertime Sadness". Having to run away and following your intuition is a common theme in Lana's recent music, most particularly "Paris, Texas" from Ocean Blvd or "Bare Feet on Linoleum" from Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass. By the time we finish the first half of the show, we've gotten a great glimpse of Lana's early career, with hits and favorites from Born to Die, Ultraviolence and Lust for Life.
 
The second half of the show explored her newer LPs, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, Blue Banisters and Ocean Blvd. These albums describe a decaying, modern America; the music turns more stripped-back, sometimes only piano and voice, an uncommon decision for bombastic Coachella. She sings "Arcadia" with passion, a song about how fickle an artist's reputation can be and how critics and journalists can shift the public's perception on them. Special guests are always part of a big party, and Jon Batiste, Billie Eilish and Jack Antonoff joined to play and sing.
 
One of the most out-there things Lana has ever done live, she was absent from the stage during "Hope is a dangerous thing..."; instead, a holographic version of herself was shown singing and spinning, reminiscent of her infamous SNL gig back in 2012. A promotional billboard appeared outside the festival, which read the date of that TV performance as the death of Lana Del Rey. She comes back triumphant with "A&W" and closed with "Young and Beautiful", a very fitting ending to this story. ""Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?", an iconic line that still stands to this day. "I know you will/I'm sure that you will."
 
Gatsby was murdered in the swimming pool of his opulent mansion; you could also say he died for love. Marilyn Monroe, Veronica Lake and Elizabeth Short, whose stories are paid homage to in the "Candy Necklace" music video, all faced the darkness of Hollywood and suffered tragic endings. Lana Del Rey pays homage to them and decides to escape, this time in a caravan of motorcycles, bikers and dolled-up dancers. "Burned into my brain are these stolen images," she sang 100 minutes ago during "Without You". "Nobody warns you before the fall [...] If this is it/I'm signing off," she declared in 2019's "The greatest"; she prefers to keep her memories intact and beautiful, avoiding the decay, the demolishment, the sealing. A jazz rendition of "Young and Beautiful" marks the end of the show and Lana waves the audience while brass players in tuxedos and girls with champagne bottles play and dance over a giant cake. The cherry on top was The Caretaker's "It's just a burning memory" playing the background, making the scene feel somber and thought-provoking, but also dramatic and grand like the end of a movie. The instrumental piece is part of Everywhere at the End of Time, an album about deteriorating mental health and Alzheimer; the fear of being forgotten seems to be a major cause of anxiety for Lana, and I hope she knows she's cementing herself as a legend with each move.

I love how her blue banisters first turned into green&gray and then had Kintsugi applied to them. True representation of a healing process
 

Here’s the thing, as much as some of us sometimes want her to be more mainstream or feel that she is more mainstream than she gets credit for - at the end of the day, she’s herself. She’ll do and sing whatever the F she wants. 
 
People respect that. It’s as if she’s gaining mainstream popularity, precisely for the fact that she’s not mainstream. She doesn’t follow the “norms” and expectations. She can write a record like Ocean Boulevard, fill it with the dreamy, laidback vocals of The Grants and Paris, Texas, but still hit you with an A&W or Peppers when you least expect it. 
 
From what I’ve seen over the past year or so, and arguably the past few years if you include Chemtrails and Banisters, she’s in a different era. She’s not going to give anyone a Coachella-esque setlist, not even Coachella. 
 
She’s not going to be forever young and the pacing has slowed down. The h@ting on the setlists is growing old. The board seemed to almost unanimously loathe her setlist from last year. She adds 3-4 new songs and it’s still “bad.” Yet we all keep coming back and the critical reviews from her performance last night seem to be almost universally positive. 
 
It is possible for two things to be true at the same time. We can accept that the playlist is slower paced, her vocals are more subdued, the performance may drag in comparison to other popular artists. But, speaking of art, it is also true that her elegance and beauty are as strong as ever. 
 
The problem with celebrities is everyone has an idealized, sometimes unrealistic expectation. We can try to mold a perfect Lana performance in our head, but at the end of the day, she’s going to do whatever tf she wants. 
 
Is her setlist decision based on comfort? Familiarity? The new era she’s in? It’s irrelevant to me. I’m just thankful that she’s out here giving us art on a regular basis. 2024 has certainly been an active year for her. Things are going to continue to get crazy, for a long, long time. Even if it’s not always in the exact way that some of her fans want. 
 
I’d argue that part of her charm is that she does what she wants. Not what others want her to do or what others think she should be doing. 

2010

 
2024

 
somethings never change  

The mashup was with Kehlani’s Gangsta and the Sickick Remix of Gangsta’s Paradise that features vocals from Jealous Girl

out of the black, into the blue