Lana Del Rey – Concert Experience
On the 4th of July the sold out Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam hosted Lana Del Rey live in concert. The singers dedicated fanbase has been waiting for years to get tour dates in Europe. The show was announced as a surprise out of the blue and 17.000 fans were lucky to secure tickets. The atmosphere has been something special that I have never experienced in this extreme. Let me take you on a journey through her magical show.
Pre-Show Observations
Outside of the venue fans have been camping for hours, waiting to see the American singer live. As the queue was growing I spotted outfits varying from white flowy dresses, heart-shaped glasses and veils or on the other hand bold Dr.Martens, sharp eyeliner, fishnets and a full black outfit. The fan base is all dressed up for Lana and the atmosphere is bustling in excitement. Naaz was the opening act and sang her way into the fans heart with her strong and raspy voice. The Dutch-Kurdish singer held the crowd captive with incredible vocals, emotional speeches and just a pure excitement to rock the stage.
The Beauty of a Lana Del Rey Show
Energetic chants echoed through the venue when time passed, and Lana’s show was about to start soon. The anticipation is through the roof as Lana Del Rey finally opened the concert with the upbeat track “A&W” from her latest album. The crowd is bringing full energy from the first second. Genuinely, I have never heard a crowd as loud as that night! Lana follows up with a breath-taking performance of “Young And Beautiful” with black and white visuals in the back.
The stage is full of mysterious looking props like old mirrors, flower swings and trees covered in fairy lights. Her dancers are incredible and enrich every song of the 90-minute-long set with stunning performances. Sometimes they carry burning candles across the dim lit stage to “Bartender”, other times they sprinkle glitter like in “Ultraviolence” or swing across the stages for “Ride”.
The setlist takes us through all Lana Del Rey albums. The absolute highlight of the show for me personally was the title track of her album “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under ocean blvd”. The crowd puts up their flashlights and creates a stunning sky of light. To her lyrics in the chorus “When’s it gonna be my turn?” Lana answers “I guess it kind of is right now”. She is visibly touched by the loud choir of her fans voices and ambiance of the venue. It was a magical feeling to hear her enchanting voice like this. An extended outro of the song featuring her background singers made the moment even more unique. A verz long lasting applause left the singer speechless first, until she found the words to call it “stunningly deafening”.
A Setlist full of Classics and a mesmerizing Ending
With other classics like “Cherry”, “Born To Die” and “Summertime Sadness” she keeps the choir of fans going, singing their hearts out. The band had many moments to show off their incredible talent in instrumental breaks. The well-known songs turned into unique live versions that made the whole experience even better.
Lastly, in old tradition, Lana closed the set with “Video Games”. On a swing covered in flowers, she swayed on stage gazing into the faces of fans with tears in their eyes and smiles of pure joy beaming at her. A dramatic instrumental outro plays as she leaves and collects the last presents from the front row. The big screens show live videos of the fans in the pit all clapping and waving. “Het Einde” (The End) is shown on the screen after minutes of standing ovations. Slowly the crowd drifts off happily into the warm night of Amsterdam.