Osheaga 2016 is finished, and throughout the many performers, Lana Del Rey shined as one of my favourite sets of the festival. Lana was faced with the daunting task of headlining on a Saturday in between Red Hot Chilli Peppers and the weekend attraction, Radiohead, while sharing the same performance timeslot as rap heavyweight Future.
Here was Lana, with her smooth, calm and angelic toned music, pitted against the energetic, gritty, rock and rap type artists and their fans that occupied Osheaga grounds. It is understandable that there would be those who would be unimpressed and unentertained by her low-key style performance yearning for something more energetic; the thought of a Radiohead stan trying to enjoy Lana amuses me. “Snoozy” and “underwhelming” are the adjectives that some use to describe Lana’s performance. The undeniable truth is that this is just what Lana’s music embodies. Lana is not a party artist and her music is hardly energetic. Her music – especially her performances – will not win you over with her energy and movement; instead, she will amaze you with her vocal delivery and the emotion she pours into her sound. Her movements are subtle but still orchestrated to the song, and her actions are very casual. Much more than just a performance - it is as if you were witnessing Lana’s story unfold. Creating a west coast vibe – with a palm trees setting, yellow sundress and a neon “Del Rey” in the backdrop – Lana transforms the Parc Jean-Drapeau setting allowing the audience to further experience her story she intends to illustrate. Lana has evolved as a live performer, especially since her infamous SNL performance. Her vocal delivery and stage presence has become increasingly intimate, and her movements, while still casual and minimal, are well practiced and synchronized perfectly to her performance. This is what made her show unique; during her performance of Off To The Races, Lana would move her arms, as if she was running in place, along with her background singers to mimic the chorus of her song, and her simple movement would mesmerize the crowd. During Born to Die, she would casually smoke a cigarette with one hand, and perform her song with the microphone in the other. She would physically imply different methods of drug intake whenever she would sing the line “let’s go get high” through different hand gestures, and with every move of her hand, the crowd loved it. I have never experienced a performer who would hardly move during her performance, but was still able to captivate their crowd. Everything Lana would do made it seem like the performance was out of a black and white script. Her barely mobile movements, and smokey/dreamy voice drew reactions because it felt like a film. To top it off, the fireworks that accompanied Born To Die, Honeymoon and High By The Beach was fantasy-like, creating an unforgettable performance. Lana would then spend a couple minutes with the fans in the front row, taking pictures with them before closing with Off To The Races. Tease of the night: when Lana walked off stage and went to the crowd to interact with the fans. She came back on to the stage with a Canada flag gifted from a fan. I thought for sure she would go into National Anthem, but instead she closed off the concert
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