Quincy

Glastonbury wasn’t perfect either. It’s definitely up there as a great set by her. The opening of Cola is lacking energy, for example. Sure, her rendition of UV was one of the best things she’s ever performed live, but even in that set we saw some low energy bits and vocals that were “lacking.” She was in a different era then, which was my point about the pacing and choosing tracks. Some artists only do what their fans want. Others only do what they want. On the spectrum, Lana does care about her fans, but she’s more of a “I’ll do whatever I want” and I’ve always loved that about her. Some artists sound perfectly polished and flawless live. That’s not her. She’s always been a bit nervous and timid. I don’t knock her for it. Others go 20-30 years and their live performances don’t feel as great as the original records, they lack energy, etc. We do realize that Lana is one of those artists who’s never released a live album, right? Even officially disseminated live recordings are fairly rare and are usually put out by the station, TV show or organization. There’s a reason for that. Why do we have to compare her to other artists? Why should we compare her to anyone? She’s extremely unique and doesn’t follow most pop culture rules. Again, I’m conceding that Coachella 2024 I wasn’t her best performance. I even gave a review earlier and said I was relatively unimpressed, but that it wasn’t bad. When we try to compare ourselves or those who we love/admire to others, that’s where things start to go wrong.

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.

Just woke up and the first thing I had to do was watch, so here are my initial thoughts: When the set started, I was genuinely kind of shocked. Three songs in a row that she hasn’t played since pre-Covid times?? She definitely seemed kind of nervous and timid at first, but she warmed up after a few tracks. Then it segued into her usual set list. The notable exception was Candy Necklaces. A total highlight for me. We finally got it and Jon ate. I agree that she definitely felt subdued through the set. I’m not sure if it was necessarily the time of day, but it could have been a factor. I think she was laser focused and knew how big this was, especially for the fans. I’ve noticed that when she gets really focused, she tends to slow down a bit. I’m not the biggest Billie fan, but the part with her was nice. I have mixed feelings on Jack too, but there was something charming about seeing him on piano. Overall, it was nice, quaint and elegant, but I wasn’t totally blown or way or shocked by it. I’m pleasantly surprised she didn’t go full country. No offense. I had a quasi-nightmare the other day that she only played country songs. While I don’t mind some of those tracks, it wouldn’t have fit with Coachella vibes. So, I’m not disappointed with the performance. I guess I have a neutral response. It was nice to hear a few different tracks and get some guest appearances. Candy Necklaces topped it off for me. By the way, is it just me, or was there a noodling around between songs that sounded like Summer Bummer at one point? I’m not the biggest fan of that song, but I actually wouldn’t have minded it for something different.

Still processing yesterday. May post a few more pics while it’s still in recent memory

A few photos I took from Lake Ouachita, AR

Standing in Lake Ouachita, good old Ar-Kansas, watching the eclipse right now. It’s better than I ever even knew

Forgive me if there was a discussion somewhere on this… A total solar eclipse will be visible across a swath of North America this Monday, April 8th. Who’s excited? Anyone live in the path of totality or plan to travel to it? From NASA: “The Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The total solar eclipse will begin over the South Pacific Ocean. Weather permitting, the first location in continental North America that will experience totality is Mexico’s Pacific coast at around 11:07 a.m. PDT. The path of the eclipse continues from Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience the total solar eclipse. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton. The eclipse will exit continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at 5:16 p.m. NDT.” I live in Oklahoma and plan to drive 4-5 hours to get into the path of totality. Paris, TX is in the path… but I’m leaning toward Arkansas. It depends on the cloud cover and forecast as of Monday morning. I drove to Nebraska to see the 2017 eclipse and it was a surreal experience. The next eclipse to cross over the U.S. won’t be until 2045. Make sure you are safe while viewing the eclipse, with proper glasses and protection for your camera/phone if you plan to photograph it.

Beer. It always made me gag. I tried tons of different kinds. I can tolerate a few stouts, but ask me to finish a regular beer and I’ll die trying lol

Sweet Carolina trigonometry

Yayo

A&W - 83 + Candy Necklace - 10 Let the Light In - 67 -

She has one, it’s down at the Waffle House

I take that back. I was delulu to think there would be something nice for the exclusive gift and the designs are worse than I initially admitted. If I had longer hair, maybe I’d get the bow, but otherwise hard pass

$55 for that ugly shirt?

I came here just to say this, but you beat me to it