I am so confused, is it now cool to love her because everyone hates her, or are we back at hating her because all the hipsters love her? Yes, I was confused and had little opinion about Lana Del Rey before going to Amoeba where she was giving a Tuesday night in-store performance.
A very long line around the block had formed and I immediately thought that not all these people were going to get in. I was late, coming straight from work, it was around 5:30 pm and people had probably been on line since 2 or 3 pm. Unbelievable! Who is that woman anyway? Paul McCartney? How could someone, whom I had never heard about just months ago, generate such a buzz? Sure a very good PR and a very statuesque figure, but still! Then I read this one-hour-old tweet from the Amoeba store: ‘Line for Lana Del Rey at Amoeba LA goes down entire city block. If not here by now, chances of getting in are slim’…. and I said to myself it was over; soon Amoeba employees were saying to people to go home, since the store had reached its capacity. Man, she was really Paul McCartney.
I was disappointed, but at least I hadn’t waited for several hours under the rain like some of these young girls and boys… I decided to go to the front door instead of leaving right away, and, I would like to thank once again Karen who recognized me (I practically live in that store) and let me in with a VIP sticker! I made my way toward the stage, through the over-crowded VIP section, and didn’t wait very long to see the eighth wonder of the world.
At least this is how people (lots of girl but also lots of young boys) seemed to welcome her when she got on stage; she was all smile, wearing a cute white shirt (similar to the one she wears on the cover of her album) and some tight blue jeans, … for some reasons I expected her to appear wearing one of her chic nightgowns, but no, she had opted for the casual look this time.
After a few words to her public, spoken with a remarkable thin voice compared to her low singing croon, she started right away with her album title ‘Born to Die’, just accompanied by a guitar and a piano. And she had a good voice, pleasantly filling the space, starting low and going high, with the fans surprisingly responding at each of her vocalization by some loud clamor. Along her set, she was balancing her head, grabbing the mic, touching her face, pushing her hair away, charming everyone with a certain mannerism betraying a mild uneasiness, but since everyone in the store was a big fan, she had nothing to be afraid of.
Listening to her, going from one hit to another, now singing very softly her ‘Blue Jeans’, I would now say that the girl can sing, no doubt about this, with her deep voice almost naked over the quiet piano and even quieter guitar, she was modulating her tone at the end of her songs, going higher and higher at her fans’ greatest joy. She was also moving slowly, like a seductress, not stiff anymore, may be having learnt from her over-criticized Saturday Night Live performance, and still being likable, more girlfriend than femme fatale. The James-Bond-ish languishing ‘Million Dollar Man’ bored me a little, but I may have been the only one; then she had to do ‘Video Games’ of course, and the song sounded like a lullaby that the fans were waking up with loud acclamations when her voice was taking some high pitch. She closed her very short set with ‘Without You’ before thanking everyone and doing a signing.
The store was really packed and I had to wait on line for a long time before exiting. Was she worth the wait I was thinking when looking at all this youth around me? Once home, I read that she interacted with some fans when doing her soundcheck earlier in the afternoon, she jumped from the stage and even hugged a few of them who were… weeping, aww she is a nice girl! Sure, I have a hard time to understand this monster-hype, but there is no way I can hate her.
Setlist:
Born To Die
Blue Jeans
Million Dollar Man
Video game
Without You