Why fans are hating, but critics are loving Lana Del Rey as UK tour continues

The American singer played in Cardiff on Monday and then Glasgow on Thursday with further dates still to come in Liverpool and London’s Wembley Stadium.

By all accounts, the set design itself is a spectacle for the 40-year-old’s biggest ever tour of these aisles, but mixed reviews have been sounded towards the choice of song and her performance.

Here is what has been said so far.

Late appearance

Fans in Cardiff were kept waiting for 20 minutes for Del Rey to make it on stage. The singer has form for untimely appearances, having kept fans waiting at Glastonbury in 2023 - owing to her hair styling - and was ultimately cut off.

A fan told the Mirror: “To be once again 20 minutes late is so disrespectful to fans. At what point will the fandom actually stand up and say this is really unprofessional and you need to start putting in the work?”

One tweeted: “I love Lana, I do but her lack of sense of urgency is so disappointing. Like I’m honestly heartbroken. Pls have better management.”

Another added: “Lana Del Rey’s Cardiff show wasn’t even 90 minutes and she was late? Abysmal.”

Maria on Lainey Gossip did point out that being 20 minutes late isn’t “super late” for a star. Del Rey turned up on time for Glasgow.

The setlist and set length

Del Rey has put together a huge back catalogue since breaking through with Born to Die in 2012 and has nine albums (with up to 16 tracks) of material.

Fans will have their favourites, so naturally a few have been disappointed with the relatively short set (15 songs in Cardiff, 14 in Glasgow) with covers of Stand by Your Man and Take Me Home, Country Roads played both times. Born to Die was not played in full. Norman F***** Rockwell and Arcadia were both played on tape while Del Rey was off the stage, changing.

The Guardian’s Huw Bains liked the visual elements complimenting the setlist. “Its theatrical staging and big ideas are all the more remarkable thanks to some very human moments of doubt,” he wrote, adding the model houses burning on stage being a dramatic turning point.

There is no room for Lust for Life, Cherry, Blue Jeans, or Doin’ Time. Entire albums are missed out. Meanwhile, the focus is four tracks from her unreleased country-infused tenth album: 57.5; Henry, come on; Quiet in the South; and, Stars Fell On Alabama.

One fan told the Standard: “Lana Del Rey played just over an hour set, hid behind a wall for 20 mins… overpriced tickets and is playing covers. Lana babe, I love you but sort it out.”

Another said on TikTok: “I’m seeing Lana Del Rey in London and the setlist from Cardiff is literally making me want to resell my ticket – because you obviously can’t get a refund.

“I’ve been a Lana fan for years, I literally went to her first ever tour in the UK. I think to do a stadium tour with only [15] songs is actually criminal.”

One treat for the Cardiff fans was an acapella rendition of her 2015 song Salvatore but this was also shortened and she is said to have performed it while reading the lyrics from her phone.

Kate French-Morris said, for the Telegraph: “Stadium sets generally demand at least two hours of hits and deep cuts. Instead, after scarcely 90 minutes and a closing cover of Take Me Home, Country Roads, Del Rey danced back into her blue cottage, turning to smile before she shut the door on the stadium and returned to domestic bliss – doing things her way, once again.”

Virtual Lana

A section of the show sees a hologram of Del Rey sitting in a window of one of the houses on stage, and like much of the show was a polarising element.

A disgruntled fan told the Mirror: "Very disappointed indeed. £290 for two tickets to have her on for an hour ish... and 15 mins of that it was a hologram type video of her! Shocking."

Rhian Daly gave the Cardiff show five stars for NME - complimenting the country elements of the setlist. “A hologram version of Del Rey and her dancers flickers in and out of view, adding to the feeling of searching and a life in disorder,” she said of this element.

The verdict?

With three dates to go in the UK before two in Dublin, Del Rey is beginning to hit her stride as she gets used to stadiums and the expectations that come with that.

The general mood is possibly best tied together by French-Morris, who wrote: “A stadium tour seems appropriate, except that she is Lana Del Rey: unpredictable, capricious, a little chaotic.

“You never know when she will release an album, appear on stage, or leave it. These attributes make her UK tour a fascinating if strange experience.”