There’s no hiding the fact that Lana Del Rey has one of the most supportive fanbases in the current pop world. Ever since she first appeared on the scene with “Born To Die” she quickly won over a legion of fans with her raw vulnerability and emotional storytelling. The last time she was in Australia was at the start of her career in 2012, a few short months after her major label debut album came out. Since then she’s become one of the biggest artists in the world, has released three other records, toured endlessly but has never come back to Australia. Her fans questioned if she would ever come back down under and there was a lot of doubt surrounding if we would ever see her again. but the six year wait has paid off and she’s finally stepped foot back in Australia for the “LA To The Moon World Tour”. The night before she kicked off the tour in Brisbane I happened to be reviewing Good Charlotte’s show at the same venue and as I turned up there were two lines. One was to get into the Good Charlotte concert and the other one was a line of 25 excited fans who were already lining up to see Lana Del Rey the next night. Some people will call them crazy but I will call them super committed. And over the night and into the next day the line kept growing and growing even though it was raining like crazy until the gates opened. As the sold out crowd packed every spare patch of grass of The Riverstage the anticipation for her arrival kept growing. But then it was time. The lights dimmed, the band and dancers appeared and then there she was gracefully walking onstage to the opening lines of “13 Beaches”. She enthusiastically thanked the crowd for waiting so long for her to come back to Australia and launched straight into fan favourites “Cherry”, “White Mustang”, “Born To Die” and “Blue Jeans”. The show was seamlessly structured with musical interludes and gorgeous choreography that had you in awe of her. “Pretty When You Cry” saw her seductively laying on the floor with her dancers while projections of the ocean appeared over and around them. It was simple production moments like this which had you absolutely captivated. Halfway through the show she started to notice a lot of fans being dragged over the barrier because they were being squished so she immediately jumped down to hug them and stayed there for 10 minutes as she walked up and down the barrier hugging fans, signing items and taking selfies. She continued the show with the big singalong favourites “National Anthem”, “West Coast” and “Lust For Life” and impressed with her soothing vocal delivery. As the show started to come close to an end she kept telling stories and interacting with the crowd and genuinely seemed like she didn’t want the show to finish. “Young And Beautiful”, “Ride” and “Video Games” had everyone feeling over emotional before “Summertime Sadness” and “Off To The Races” closed the show with a massive singalong. The show was so simple, romantic, heartbreaking but effective and had you feeling like the six year wait was 100% worth it.
You can purchase Lana Del Rey’s new album “Lust For Life” at Sanity now; https://www.sanity.com.au/products/2345482/Lust_For_Life