Lana Del Rey offers a masterclass in theatricality to a devoted BST Hyde Park

Predictably, she is 20 minutes late to her headline slot tonight, the suspense for her arrival heightened by the ridiculously lengthy entrance of the band members, backing vocalists and dancers one by one; it’s a masterclass in theatricality and a campy double-down on Lana’s ethereal nonchalance.

Realistically, Lana has turned out enough material to do her own ‘Eras’ tour at this point. Seven albums in (plus the countless unreleased tracks the diehards are well acquainted with), and the setlist choices are endless, but it just wouldn’t be Lana Del Rey if she did the obvious. Early singles are the ‘hits’ in question, stacked up beside obscure album tracks like ‘Bartender’ from 2019’s ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell!’, ‘Pretty When You Cry’ from 2014’s ‘Ultraviolence’, and fan favourites like ‘Cherry’ from 2017’s ‘Lust For Life’, her cult classic status only strengthened by the fans’ unflappable knowledge of every lyric.

While the tour is in support of her recent album ‘Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd’, the set only pulls four tracks from it, instead favouring her earliest material, clocking up six tracks from her breakthrough debut ‘Born To Die’. It could be an odd choice, but she knows what the people want, and considering the scarcity of her live performances this side of the Atlantic, there are plenty of fans here who’ve been waiting to hear these tracks live for over a decade.

There’s also the continuous theme of age running through both Lana’s latest album and this show. ‘…Ocean Blvd’ laid bare worries about feeling like a shelved singer (“Did you know a singer can still be looking like a sidepiece at thirty-three?” in show opener ‘A&W’) and internal conflicts about being unmarried in her thirties (“When's it gonna be my turn? Don't forget me” in the title track), it’s interesting how those feelings are represented in the show. Playing mostly older material and displaying her early music videos featuring a younger Lana, the current one sits on the floor and watches them wistfully, suggesting she too misses that era.