Midway through her headline set at London’s Hyde Park, Lana Del Rey abandoned the stage to embrace fans on the front row, posing for selfies as she went. Moments earlier, she’d been sitting under a fairy light-adorned tree, playing with the glittering confetti that rained down from above, and singing about cult leaders. That ability to stride between otherworldly excess and fierce relatability has always been an important part of Del Rey’s music and on Sunday night, it defined her 90-minute set.
Del Rey’s delicately beautiful songs of bone-scratching heartache, quiet fury and rose-tinted escapism aren’t typically suited for massive venues, and it had been six long years since she last played London. A 2020 arena tour was cancelled a week before it was set to kick off, and in the run-up to this Hyde Park gig, rumours swirled online that it was due to be pulled as well, after her Other Stage headline set at Glastonbury was abruptly cut short.
