In 2017, fans of Lana Del Rey sat in the rain until 10 p.m. only to find out that her concert would not be happening. Almost 6 years later, Del Rey returned to the stage at Dos Equis Pavillion to play, and I had a ticket. Unfortunately, as I was driving over to Dallas, it began to pour rain. I’m sure others were worried that it would be history repeating itself. I personally have always wanted to be at a concert in the rain so I welcomed it. Rain at a Lana concert is my definition of a main character moment.
After a whole debacle of downloading my tickets with no Wi-Fi, I made it inside the venue. The rain started to let up and I took my seat on my alligator-adorned beach towel on the lawn. My sister and I took some pictures and laughed. The second the pre-show music cut off and the stage went dark, the crowd erupted into screams.
Born Elizabeth Grant, Lana Del Rey has been a juggernaut of the alternative music scene since her 2013 debut single “Video Games.” Painting a picture of sad Hollywood melancholia and glamorous noir sounds, Lana has crafted a persona alongside her music. For her entire career, this made it to where critics were not only knocking her music but also her as a person. Regardless, Lana has been called by many one of the most influential artists in pop.
Off the tail of her most recent album, “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd?.” (Yes, that is the full name of her album.) She returned to the stage for the first time since 2019. Funny story: in 2019, I drove to Oklahoma City for her concert and even got close enough to touch her hand at the end of her show. Interestingly, that night I had only paid 60 dollars for a ticket. This time around, I paid almost double that and was in the back of the arena. I’m not complaining though, I still had a blast.
My favorite song of the night that she performed was “Cherry.” However, at the end of the show, one of Lana’s stage managers came out to inform her that due to the severe weather alert, the show would have to stop. Fortunately, there were only two songs left on the setlist, so we did not miss much. She quickly informed her band that she would not get off the stage until she played Video Games, the song that she credited as the reason she was even there.
The show ended as she swung back and forth on the stage and sang her haunting melody. As she was doing so, the sky provided a backdrop of lightning strikes and light rain. It turned into a beautiful moment. The moment she ended, I resigned myself to the fact that there was no way I was leaving this place with clean shoes. Trudging through the mud, I could not have been happier.
