Bonusthetic: The Fans are Mad at Lana Del Rey

Its been a long time coming

No really, I’m actually impressed by the fanbase for staying so even-keeled for so long.

Lana kicked off her European tour in Cardiff a few days ago. You’re either thinking

A) “oh she has a new album out?” or B) “I thought her new album release was delayed… so how is she touring it?”

Really great questions guys, her album release has been delayed. I’m fairly certain it was originally set for release months ago, and despite that, fans still virtually lined up to spend money (and time) getting tickets to what will be her first stadium tour.

The album delay alone realistically is enough cause for fan disappointment, but as beloved and revered as Lana has been the last 12+ years I can get why tickets still sell— I mean this is the woman who gave us Ride, West Coast, and most notably NFR.

Despite very little newness promised this tour, fans remained in the room but the room… was too big and too heavy. According to concert goers, it felt akin to a big gaping hole where a concert should be.

If youre unfamiliar with Lana’s work— an overarching aesthetic and vague summertime sadness remixes, let me be the the first to say, as a fan of her earliest albums, Lana Del Rey x Stadium tour feels… lowkey crazy.

Fans have positioned their opinions from understanding of a shy, stage-frightened singer to angry at a lazy and disrespectful one.

The tipping points being:

A considerate amount of time spent off stage— coming to a head with a video screen performing Norman Fucking Rockwell uh… for her?

Late starts. Pretty commonplace for a Lana show, but for 2025 ticket costs and the unspoken expectations that accompany the word “stadium” in the pop world— felt.

Monotony. Fans have clocked Lana using the same 15 song set list for at least the last five years. (I haven’t checked this, consider me your friend gossiping about LDR with you, not an authority.)

More singing, less costume changes and background dancers. I haven’t watched enough videos to have a distinct 0.02 on this. However, there were notable comments about the audio quality being nearly unhearable.

I saw Lana opening night of the Ultraviolence tour in 2014.

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Some may question why she’d choose to open the tour in Indiana— I don’t. It’s the most Lana Del Rey thing ever. She was late, the sound quality was tough, I was blissfully unaffected in a flower crown.

The most peeved fans have stated that at this stage in her career Lana should at least be playing 2.5 hour shows inclusive of her catalogue. Call it the new perception of pop perfection. When artists like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift give multi-hour retrospectives it changes the expectations but Lana has always described as a lounge singer with ‘more reach.’ (Reach being thousands of fans and albums sold.)

Pitchfork named Lana’s A&W as the best song if the 2020’s. Truthfully, I don’t disagree. Beyond her Americana aesthetic, which for years has been capturing fans across its ideations, her lyricism goes crazy. Why flounce my language to say: despite her stage presence, she’s a good artist.

We live in a new landscape of pop. It’s not just about the music, nor about the body or look of the pop star that produces it. We demand IRL from our artists. It can’t be brat the album, it has to be brat girl summer. It’s not the Eras Tour, its a summer of girlhood made with matching friendship bracelets. The shows are the cinematic universe soundtracked by the music. The user experience that extends beyond hitting shuffle or play. Disappointment in the concert experience makes sense, especially when even old fans have new standards.

However, at the end of the day the most resounding sentiment was this: less fanfare, glitzy venues, expansive stage set ups, costumes, and dancers, and more music. Especially in the case of Lana, fans want to hear her words, internalize her voice, and live to hear the words “god damn, man child” uttered live.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading my bonusthetic. (AKA my mini musings)

I’m on vacation, having written this quickie on the tarmac of the Atlanta airport and 12AM and poolside with a margarita, I just thought you should know.