Lana Del Rey’s performance at Reading Festival was cut short because the singer couldn’t sing all of her songs before she watched the fireworks and left.
She performed on the festival’s main stage yesterday (August 24), and NME reported that she arrived “about 15 minutes late” for her set, which she opened with an abridged version of “Norman F**king Rockwell.”
Del Rey played a total of 13 songs and said to the audience after performing “Video Games”: “Thank you, Reading, thank you. We’re going to sing a few more songs. As long as we can, until they pull us out.”
These proved to be prophetic words, as the singer was interrupted and could only watch the fireworks on stage before making way for DJ Fred Again…
Lana Del Rey on stage at Reading Festival. (Simone Joyner/Getty Images for ABA)
According to the Daily Mail, she had to deal with technical problems, which meant that her fans could barely hear her at times.
They also wrote that at one point, Del Rey was drowned out by techno music coming from another stage, prompting the crowd to chant “Turn it up, turn it up” when she asked if they could hear her.
Some fans complained on social media, saying they loved Lana Del Rey, “but yes, of course you’re being interrupted” because she was late for another performance.
“She clearly hasn’t learned anything from Glastonbury,” they said, referring to last year’s Glastonbury show, where she arrived half an hour late and was interrupted for violating the curfew.
Del Rey poked fun at the moment on stage in Hyde Park while getting her hair done during her performance.
Another said: “Who would have thought that you would be late and then be interrupted.”
Fans said her performance was “fucking majestic” but complained that she started late, was interrupted and there was very loud techno. (Simone Joyner/Getty Images for ABA)
Others directed their anger at the Reading Festival organisers, saying: “They f***ing denied Lana entry, I’m shocked” and “the organisers should be ashamed of themselves for denying her entry”.
The Reading Festival has a curfew and, according to Time Out, the main stages must be ready by 11:30 p.m.
Fred Again… was supposed to finish his set just 10 minutes before closing time, so perhaps the promoters felt they didn’t have enough time to let Del Rey finish all of her songs.
Many Del Rey fans said what they saw was “absolutely fantastic” and “fucking majestic”, even as they begged Reading Festival not to “let a singer collide with techno”.
LADbible has contacted representatives for Lana Del Rey and the organizers of the Reading Festival for comment.
