Lana Del Rey’s ethereal and dreamy song stylings took over the Coachella Stage Friday night as she headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. But first, she made quite the epic entrance to kick things off.
She, along with her backup singers and dancers, pulled up to the stage standing on the back of a motorcycle with “Jealous Girl” playing over and over on the speakers. Best entrance ever at the festival? We think so. The singer was rightfully all smiles as she started the show with “Without You.”
The singer, known for her dreamy, sultry and melancholic songs, is almost synonymous with the famous festival — she even has a song called “Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind.” However, this marks her first year headlining, exactly a decade since her last Coachella appearance in 2014 on the Outdoor Theatre stage.
With her hair flowing in the wind all night long, the singer looked radiant on stage in a sparkly blue dress. Visuals on screen alternated between black and white and color and showed views of palm trees, waves crashing and videos from her career.
Though not featured that much on screen for those standing in the back, her stage featured three tall white columns, winding staircases on the side and two balconies from which she serenaded the audience.
It’s hard to keep track of how many hits Del Rey has in her discography, which spans nine albums. Her set was a reminder of them all — stacked with “Summertime Sadness,” “Cherry,” “Pretty When You Cry” and “Born to Die.” They’re not the usual hard-hitting, bass heavy, flashy songs that most Coachella sets feature, but die-hard fans and casual listeners were still swaying throughout the night.
Coachella 2024: Here’s the complete setlist from Lana Del Rey’s Weekend 1 headlining set
The longer the singer played, the more confident she looked on stage. She would often limit how much she would sing (opting to reach the microphone out for certain verses to allow the audience’s voices to take over), which was disappointing given how great she sounded. Despite that, she gave her fans the dreamy vocals they wanted. Her voice on “Ride,” in particular, stood out, as she sustained the words “I just ride” in the chorus. She even harmonized with backup singers at the start of “The Grants” before taking over the rest of the song.
Her backup singers, at times, overshadowed her, especially on “Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.” They earned a deserved round of applause from the crowd.
She even paid homage to a fellow Coachella artist, singing her cover of Sublime’s “Doin’ Time,” which was featured on her album “Norman F—— Rockwell!”
Del Rey’s set was full of special guests. She first welcomed Jon Batiste on stage to play their collaboration “Candy Necklace.” She sang seated on top of his piano before she started spinning on a pole, which made the crowd go wild. Later, Del Rey let Batiste take control of the song, and they started ad libbing lyrics.
“Sometimes you need somebody else’s spirit to move with you, and that’s always going to be Jon Batiste,” the headliner exclaimed.
Her next special guest needed no introduction: 2022 Coachella headliner Billie Eilish joined the stage to sing her hit “Ocean Eyes” with Del Rey. They continued with a duet of “Video Games,” the perfect song to match their heavenly vocals.
Though they don’t have a song together, Eilish has been a big fan of Del Rey’s for years. In an Interview magazine interview from 2023, Eilish shared that Rey was her lock screen on the first phone she ever got and that she sang the headliner’s songs during a talent show.
“That’s the voice of our generation,” Del Rey said of the two-time Oscar winner.
It was Eilish’s third year in a row performing at Coachella — she headlined the festival in 2022 and joined Labrinth on stage as a special guest during his 2023 set.
Producer and songwriting pal Jack Antonoff also joined the stage for “Hope is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman like Me to Have.”
She closed out her set with her hit song “Young and Beautiful” from the film “The Great Gatsby,” along with an exciting firework display.
Del Rey is having an exciting 2024. Aside from headlining Coachella both weekends, she will be releasing “Lasso,” her 10th studio album, in September.
Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.
First appeared on www.desertsun.com