I mean, look at her, she is beautiful! So over the past year I have been obsessing over this woman. Albums on repeat, creeping all over the Internet for pictures and music videos and finally last night, after my lovely boyfriend using all his tips to buy tickets for my Christmas present, I saw her live. I got early birthday presents too, in the form of a program and vest top. Best of all though, I was in the same room as her and I got pretty close. Not front row or anything but close enough that when my camera decided to be an asshole I still managed to get blurry pictures of this goddess with my iPhone zoomed to the maximum. Ever so slowly the crowd crept forward, with myself dragging Kieran along, and by the end I only had to use half a zoom on my phone. I'm still kicking myself over the camera though as I would have had some stunning photos.
Now lets get onto the actual gig. Kassidy as an opening act where amazing, I would have actually been happy with them the whole night. I'm also fairly sure I saw Lana herself watching from the sidelines, which is no surprise as she is going out with Barrie James O'Neil. They had such energy on stage and I had never heard their songs before, or at least that I know of, and by the end of each I was singing along to the chorus. They also look great together, they have a wonderful finished rough look. Finished as in they look like they're were there to party and party hard but they haven't peaked and had a dram to many. They're set was short, sweet and to the point. They didn't stay too long, they played extremely well and appear to be very talented, worked the crowd well and just seemed genuinely happy to be playing in Glasgow. Needless to say I'll be checking them out later.
Then during the short break the tone was set wonderfully by a crackly track of Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring' playing as the ethereal curtain rippled with movement, lit from behind with pastel green and blue, a palm tree leaf shadow swaying and the odd human shadow was seen (I'm not 'fangirl-ing' at the memory, honest). Then as lights went out and the curtain dropped I'm not ashamed to say I screamed along with the rest of the crowd and surged forward, going on tiptoes trying to see her. Then when she gracefully floated from side stage left, in a babydoll white lace dress with immaculate make up, glossy hair in all its glory and, of course, those beautiful 'bee stung' lips, she was everything I had hoped and more, I promise I didn't scream even louder...
Opening with, 'My pussy tastes like pepsi-cola...' from 'Cola' I was in seventh heaven and although tiny in comparison to the SECC stage, she travelled along it well. It helped that she also had a 12 octave baby grand piano, a fabulous string quartet and a guitar player on stage with her. The set was that of a dilapidated 1920's living room, most likely a nod to her recent work with the Great Gatsby film, but also, in general, her vintage style. The next performance were my favourite songs 'Born to Die' and 'Blue Jeans'.Having the string quartet there really gave it that extra 'oomph.' that you miss out on in the CDs. I sang along with every word and so did most of the crowd. They adored her and she seemed happy to be here, stopping between songs to mention how she stays in Glasgow frequently, that she couldn't believe it had been a year since she'd performed in Glasgow and after going down to the lucky souls that were crushed against the railing, saying that she recognised some people and thanked them for coming. I'm not jealous. I just wish I was them. After that it was the cover of 'Blue Velvet' and 'American' in which Glasgow was given a nod as she serenaded, '...be young, be dope, be proud...like a Glaswegian.' Needless to say the crowd lapped that up. 'Young and Beautiful' from the Great Gatsby soundtrack was the last before a short break in which footage from 'Ride' was shown with a voice over quote before Lana came back on with 'Ride' which then morphed into a short cover of 'Knocking on Heavens Door'. With a shy smile, she worked the crowd with 'Carmen' and 'Burning Desire' to then slowly close with 'National Anthem' which had an extended finish as she went back in the pit of fans to sign and have photos taken. One brave bloke had his iPad in there. Yes, iPad... that ungainly thing that you should never take to a gig, but fair enough, it got him noticed. Some lucky souls even got a kiss. I'm kinda glad I didn't get a kiss as I'm fairly sure I would have turned into a full on lesbian. As it is, I'm happy to have my crush, wish that I was Lana Del Rey and admire from afar.
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