Ten minutes late here, another twenty there. Lana Del Rey may put on a show but the limited respect she has for her fans, the crowd and timeliness is concerning. It does not detract from an exceptional set at Leeds Festival, a rare occurrence of the weather clearing up and the crowd not renting out their nose to ketamine makes for calmer waters and a chance to experience the alt-pop sensation. Sitting around and waiting for Lana Del Rey to hit the stage is to contemplate the attitude to touring across the pong. Is this the only way to see the American singer perform? Touring the stadiums of the United Kingdom is too big of an ask; given the set performed here, they are not big enough. Fireworks, explosions of grandeur and a sense of faux love wash over the crowd.
Because these are not individuals loved or respected by the artist – whose exceptional slot at Leedsfest is a nice way to call time on your experience in the fields of Branham Park. Mostly shortened versions of works you already know feed into instrumental bridges so Lana Del Rey can take up the next pocket of carefully choreographed stage presence. Summertime Sadness is the first track to be played out in full, with Without You and West Coast chopped and changed for the sake of walking up a flight of stairs and into a spot which benefits the first two rows of a feral crowd. The shortening of most of her tracks to make way for a few elongations of Video Games and Cherry is a fascinating choice, not least because it suggests a lack of faith in excellent material.
Whatever the case, the crowd likely do not have the attention span for it, anyway. Every song gets a cheer and like a Venice Film Festival crowd spotting an A24 logo, we clap like seals and lap up what is a very fine, well-performed show not without its glaring problems. Beyond lateness there is a sense of incomplete material, no song truly paid its dues for the emotional impact. Just hearing a few notes appears to be enough for the screaming and crying fans, and as such that is all you get. At least Chemtrails Over the Country Club is heard in full, but then it leads to a halved Norman fucking Rockwell, a shame considering the delicacy and finality of those hidden turns made in the full song. If there is no time to perform a song in full, consider less wandering around the stage, and being on time.
Lana Del Rey is likely one of the few highlights for a washed-out Leedsfest not because this is a titan of music on the stage but because the rest of the lineup is so dismal you must clutch at the few straws you can find. Exceptional but brief. It feels like a set in need of a complete overhaul and yet we remain satisfied. It is everything her audience wants. Brief snippets of the songs they know are interspersed with a few glittering spins and fireworks. There is a lack of substance which remains quite surprising given the depth of her album work – but then those are two rapidly different experiences, and to expect the same from an artist at a festival which could not make its mind up on who would perform on what stage, is rather foolish. A decent performance, but one which will fade from memory rather quickly.
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