BST Hyde Park, London
A newly empowered Del Rey delights her fizzing army of fans with an electrifying, gloriously odd set – complete with onstage stylist
Never cheat on a songwriter. Especially not Lana Del Rey. We learn this at Hyde Park, under a sun-dappled sky streaked with clouds shaped like chemtrails. Appropriately, the American balladeer is caressing the final verse of Chemtrails Over the Country Club, steering its lullaby-like coda to gentle sleep, when she veers suddenly off-road without warning. Squatting, staring inscrutably, she replaces the basic yet romantic line “you’re born in December, I’m born in June” with “he was born in December… and got married when we were still together”.
Shrieks and wails of affirmation greet Lana’s revelation, as she continues, crooning “sometimes I wonder what his wife would think if she knew” and follows that faux-naif savagery with “he got married when we were in couples therapy together”. As a published poet, Del Rey knows that (a) this doesn’t scan, and (b) it doesn’t matter. It’s electrifying, and gloriously odd. What just happened? Did she really call out her ex to 60,000 strangers? Is it true? It’s a goosebump moment, four songs into her biggest UK gig, that proves precisely why her audience are so invested in every second of her every performance.
