On February 2, flower crowns, winged eyeliner and heart-shaped sunglasses paraded the streets of downtown Orlando as Lana Del Rey performed at the Amway Center. She began her “Lust For Life” tour on January 5 and will be on tour for the next three months.
Kali Uchis, Del Rey’s opening act, seemed to precisely imitate Lana’s signature dance moves coined by Lana. She gave an outstanding dance performance, but her vocals and stage presence were sub-par. Although she gave the act her best effort, Lana fans were unimpressed and were eager for her to leave the stage.
The moment the curtain began to rise and Lana walked up from the side of the arena, a flood of fans launched forward, eager to hear the first few notes. Fans flipped at the sight of an angelic icon whose poetry is some of the unique the music industry has ever seen.
“Experiment in Terror”
The show began with a cover of the Henry Mancini song “Experiment in Terror.” Immediately after the song ended, Del Ray laid on the ground with her two backup dancers and had waves projected down on the stage and sang while lying on her back. Even though Del Rey was on the ground, she still sang her beautiful verses.
“Born to Die”
“Born to Die” is one of Del Rey’s many iconic songs. She sang every word flawlessly and without hesitation. While she sang, she also danced around the stage and held the microphone out for the audience so they can belt out the words. In the middle of the song, she would include side comments and extra verses to spice up the song a little bit more.
“Happy Birthday Mr. President”
The stage went black as Lana recreated Marilyn Monroe’s 1962 performance of “Happy Birthday Mr. President,” only this time, she was singing to Orlando, not John F. Kennedy. Rapper A$AP Rocky portrayed the president in a 60s music video which rolled behind her shadowed-silhouette. The reference to the historic pop culture event wasn’t just a stand-alone song, but rather a queue for fans to prepare for “National Anthem,” which always follows.
“National Anthem”
The beginning of “National Anthem” blared out of speakers, and the entire crowd screamed as loud as they could. Everyone was impatiently waiting to sing along with Lana. The beginning verses of the song sung in unity with the crowd. When the lyrics in the chorus, “Red, white, blue’s in the skies,” was chanted, the lights in the arena changed colors to mimic the colors that were sung.
Medley of “Change,” “Black Beauty” and “Young and Beautiful”
The beginning beat of “Change” began to play, and it seemed like the whole crowd went silent to hear the rest of the song. As the soft voice of Lana began to project, fans immediately joined in. In the middle of “Change,” she switched to “Black Beauty” and sang the chorus a few times. She then began to sing the beginning of “Young and Beautiful” which was the hit from the soundtrack“The Great Gatsby.” “Young and Beautiful” was sung to perfection as were the other two songs. She sang the song so beautifully that it gave me chills. The combination of the three songs was truly perfect.
“Terrance, I Love You”
As Lana debated on what song to sing next, a group of girls at the front of the pit all yelled for her to sing “Terrance, I Love You.” At first, Lana didn’t quite catch what they were hearing, so she walked down to where they were. They told her that they wanted the song and she was excited that someone had said it because she had not thought of that song in a while; however, since Lana hadn’t thought of it in a while, she asked the girls how it went. As they began to sing the beginning few lines, Lana immediately started singing it as an acapella. Although she didn’t sing the song for long, she sang it with grace and beauty.
“Video Games”
The Trip Hop artist introduced her next hit by explaining its rise to fame. She mentioned a dear friend Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known on stage by “the Weeknd,” who reblogged her song “Video Games,” and immediately caused the song to skyrocket in mainstream media. Her performance of “Video Games,” was everything fans had dreamed of as her homemade music video played on the screen behind her.
“Off to the Races”
Strobe lights fast enough to induce a headache pulsated to the beat of the song. The finale was her best performance yet as vintage film frames of ballerinas, and American Money collided to form a moving picture. With lights sparkling off of her disco boots, Lana said goodbye to Orlando.
