by our correspondent
“It’s one of the most incredible places I’ve ever sung,” says Lana Del Rey from the Lido di Camiore (Lucca) stage. And yet, on Saturday June 24, the organizers of the “La Prima Estate” festival received a phone call from Del Rey’s management saying that the American artist would be performing with her a week later, at the Lido di Camiore, as a way of performing. His eyes widened as he watched the surprise short European tour that preceded the London Live in Hyde Park on 9 July. Not because the 38-year-old singer-songwriter hadn’t performed in Italy for 5 years, not because she chose a smaller Tuscan festival to return to, and not because of almost zero notice overall. But because the “first summer” was supposed to close its doors the next day, June 25th.
Miracle
However, the opportunity was really tempting, and finally the small miracle happened in Versilia: last night Lana del Rey took the stage in Bussola Park and sang in front of 17,000 fans, many young and not so, who came from all over Tuscany but also from far away (a thousand from Rome) so as not to miss the “special program” of the program, which saw Elizabeth Grant (this is the artist’s real name) perform the first two weekends, including Jamiroquai, Bonn Ivar, Kings of Convenience and Alt-J. A concert that began in an almost dreamlike atmosphere, with the all-female corps de ballet dancing to the notes of A&W and she, Elizabeth, entering like a diva from another era, while the audience was surrounded by the first Since then some tears of emotion were falling.
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Del Rey, who after attending the Glastonbury festival (where she went onstage late and was eventually asked to get off by security for exceeding the concert’s deadline), made the exact same appearance. Chose the location of “La Prima”. estate” for her only date in Italy, the one that has always sung about summer. But not the summer of pillowcases, not the summer of unbridled fun, but the summer of sadness, the summer of sudden and all-too-brief love, of nostalgia and The heat of the drink that does not just think, let yourself go into the adventures of the night, let the sun rise and take away everything.
And in this park facing the sea, her low voice is enough to describe how a girl from a wealthy family, but with a complicated past (including alcohol addiction), has become the most thoughtful auteur queen of pop, a sort of Taylor in an intimate version of Swift, which, among other features, was said to have inspired Billie Eilish (the latter admitted in Interview magazine with Lana that “the first iPhone I ever had”, a photo of her in was “on the lock screen”).
From 2012, the year that marked his international breakthrough with the album Born to Die, to ‘Did You Know That There Is a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ released last March, the artist has won an army of fans, especially the very young, who still remain as faithful to her as she has been to her old and sensuous style, to that whispering and intimate way of singing that makes her songs a balm to those who, instead of being the soul of the party, prefers to look away at the sea. A&W’s intro immediately leaves room for Young and Beautiful, one of her biggest hits, sung at the top of her lungs by the confused audience over the diva’s raspy voice. What remains there, surrounded by an almost mysterious and unattainable aura, yet so familiar to those who, under the stage, speak the words of the songs as if they were their own.
A very long black train and a change of costume on stage, covered by dancers who then continue to adjust their hairstyles with the barman’s persuasive notes, one of Norman Faking Rockwell’s best hits!, with California Pregnant with a beautiful 2019 album Atmosphere (to promote it, Del Rey was also supposed to perform at the Verona Arena in 2020, but Covid prevented that). As the memories flow, so do the songs, from Chemtrails over the country club to The Grants, which Elizabeth dedicates to her family and cheers on, to Cherry, the hit Born to Die, Blue Up to jeans and ultraviolence.
Effect
Lana Del Rey on stage, amidst a swing of flowers, moves little but doesn’t need to, one gets the impression she might as well stop singing, as her presence is enough to keep the atmosphere suspended and dreamy. It is adequate. The audience is loudly demanding him to sing Salvatore. And she sings it a cappella as fans shout “hello love” to the cheers. Now it is the turn of the poignant Venetian bitch, who haunts Parco Bussola yesterday by telling about the bonfires and here, too, about the summer that slowly fades away, leaving room for memories and loss There is a constant feeling of well-being that accompanies the passage of time, especially time well spent.
The fear of returning to normal, the feeling that nothing will ever be the same: nothing can remain gold, “nothing can remain golden”, sings Lana. Meanwhile, slightly hazy images of West Coast beaches and roads described by both Jack Kerouac and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, wonderful “on the road” trips with fading dreams and nostalgia, scroll across the big screen. It’s summertime blues time: Here’s Lana Del Rey’s real manifesto, before video games stop dancing, in an ocean of “stars,” as Elizabeth calls the smartphone flash. As in a perfect metaphor, a wind carries away the first heat. For reminding us that after all, summer is beautiful because it ends.
andrea andrei
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(tags to translate) Andrea Andrei