Lana Del Rey at Hampden, Glasgow review: does it work?

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

When her stadium tour was announced Del Rey said she'd be releasing a new album to coincide with the dates, but like the singer herself tonight that 10th studio album is fashionably late.
The word is it'll see her make a foray into country music and that's certainly reflected in the staging, band members dressed like Conway Twitty standing in front of a prairie house from which the star attraction emerges to deafening screams.
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After opener 'Stars Fell on Alabama', a cut from that upcoming album, Del Rey waves demurely to the crowd and says, "you are so special, Glasgow, I had my year here, I love it here."
Sure, sure, they all say that, but in this case the singer isn't just handing out platitudes. Her erstwhile producer and ex-beau Barrie-James O'Neill is a Glaswegian and there was a time when there was a decent chance of catching a glimpse of the pop superstar in Òran Mór or Shawlands Co-op.
Second song 'Henry, Come On' was only released in April but is clearly already a fan favourite, with gasps of breath and clutching of arms greeting its opening chords.
That, really, is the key to making this whole thing work. Del Rey's breathy vocals and her band's tasteful plucking could easily get lost in this vast concrete bowl but they're bolstered by a crowd singing every word back at them with starry-eyed adoration.
A cover of Tammy Wynette's 'Stand By Your Man' is something of an odd choice, The Blues Brothers having taken it to country parody status at least three decades ago, and there's a good chunk of the audience which clearly doesn't know the song but they're all back on board for 'Chemtrails Over the Country Club' and an anthemic 'Ultraviolence', the latter of which sees the stadium lit up red and white.
Lana Del Rey performs at Hampden Park in Glasgow (Image: Roberto Ricciuti) It has, somehow, been 14 years since Del Rey announced herself to the world with 'Video Games' but the song sounds as fresh as ever and when the crowd are invited to take over vocals it's deafening.
There follows a brief interlude where the singer disappears from view and appears as a projection on the windows of her prairie house, and later there's a - quite frankly too long - break where a hologram version of Lana recites an Allen Ginsberg poem and the aforementioned abode symbolically burns.
You briefly begin to wonder, again, if this can actually work on such a massive level but then she returns with 'Young and Beautiful', 'Summertime Sadness' and 'Born to Die' and of course it does - 50,000 adoring fans can't be wrong.
It's testament to Del Rey that she can hold such an audience in the palm of her hand as she finishes with an unreleased song and a cover of 'Take Me Home, Country Roads'.
This one everyone does know, and hands are in the air throughout as the singer descends from the stage to hug, kiss and take selfies with those in the front row.
There's nothing intimate about Hampden but she makes it feel that way, the band dutifully playing on for what must have been 15 minutes of glad-handing.
One could argue that time might have been better spent doing another couple of songs, it's a short set at a time when Beyoncé and Taylor Swift are doing three hours plus, but no-one seems to be complaining.
As a closer it's the show in microcosm.
Del Rey is actually on stage for 14 songs, two of which are covers and three of which are unreleased. Her biggest songs are baroque ballads or minimalist Americana.
On paper none of this should work in a stadium setting. But it does, it really does.