Lana Del Rey review: Incredible stage set makes for fine show at Aviva, Dublin

Irish Examiner

01-07-2025

Lana Del Rey, Aviva Stadium, Dublin ★★★★☆
Imagine, if you will, a Tennessee Williams play, with all the attendant southern gothic overtones, directed by the Coen Brothers, starring Bobbie Gentry, with Busby Berkeley, carousing in New Orleans, handling the choreography and you'll be sort of close to the spectacle Lana Del Rey presented as she took over the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
If there were doubts about her stately music translating to a stadium, compounded by the odd sniffy review from her English dates, then she swiftly dispelled them. Her stage set was amazing for a start, the kind of southern mansion you might imagine a young Elizabeth Taylor sitting outside of, sipping a mint julip to combat the humidity, complete with porch swings, candelabras, and even a tree festooned with Spanish moss.
To the left was a five-piece string section under an awning who were wildly effective throughout, while the other musicians, including long-time guitarist Blake Lee, looked like they were auditioning for a Johnny Cash night at the Grand Old Opry.
Her dancers veered from (tasteful) pole work to swirling around their boss with burlesque feather fans, to one hero swishing about like an eighties shampoo ad on top of the 'house'. Her troupe of backing singers were equally superb, never more so than when they went full gospel as Ms Del Rey repeated the title to close Did You Know There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
Lana Del Rey at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Picture: Debbie Hickey
Del Rey herself was a riveting presence, resplendent in a debutante dress with a bow at the waist before switching to a purple evening gown for the second half. Her choice of material was admirably daring with four songs from a yet unreleased album rumoured to have a country bent. If 57.5, Stars Fell On Alabama, and the gorgeous pedal steel of Quiet In The South are anything to go by, it'll be a strong offering.
Recent single Henry, Come On displayed her full vocal range, while sat in a rocking chair, as the strings swelled about her. A marvellous, if short, cover of Tammy Wynette's Stand By Your Man linked it all back to the source.
Admittedly, the decision for the band to play Norman F**king Rockwell and Arcadia without Del Rey, apart from a projection in a house window, was a misstep and there were a few scratched heads during the strangely riveting section combining Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo with Allen Ginsberg's Howl. Equally, a stadium show of a mere hour and twenty-something minutes is short change-ish, but the big songs elicited an eruption of acclaim to match anything I've experienced at previous stadium shows.
The stirring, widescreen chorus of Ride brought tears to the eyes of my 19-year-old daughter - for whom Lana is everything - and the late hattrick of Young And Beautiful, Summertime Sadness, and Born To Die had Del Rey equally visibly moved by the crowds euphoric singing of every syllable. And she finished with John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads. Consider this repentant sceptic won over.