Lana Del Rey, Glasgow review: 'an unlikely pop superstar'

Lana Del Rey, Hampden Park, Glasgow ★★★★

In a deliberate diva move, Lana Del Rey arrived onstage 45 minutes after her published stage time - almost as late as her long promised forthcoming country-flavoured tenth album. In the meantime there was a soundtrack of old school country classics to enjoy and a Little House on the Prairie stage set to absorb, soon to be populated by the band in the paddock, string section in the woodshed and backing singers on the swing, the scale and theatricality somehow resolving the conundrum of how to make Del Rey’s intoxicating front porch/fireside sound into a stadium show.

Lana Del Rey performing at Hampden Park, Glasgow, 26 June 2025 | Roberto Ricciuti

There was also Del Rey’s diffidence as a performer to contend with. She milked her entrance with shadowplay behind the shutters but her fragile, feathery voice sounded lovely if hesitant on new songs Stars Fell Over Alabama and Henry, Come On.

READ MORE: Lana Del Ray at Hampden Park: Here are 22 amazing pictures of the star's stunning Glasgow concert - and full setlist

She is in a country-loving city - one in which she lived for a time – so her timid, tasteful rendition of karaoke standard Stand By Your Man was well received. She warmed up with the floaty Chemtrails Over the Country Club before the band got stuck in to Ultraviolence, the heftiest song in the set. By this point, there were pole dancers in the yard and a ballerina on the roof.

Lana Del Rey performs at Hampden Park, Glasgow, 26 June 2025 | Roberto Ricciuti

Del Rey took to the garden rope swing for the spine-tingling Video Games, the song that started the cult. She remains an unlikely pop superstar – what other artist at her level would use Bernard Hermann’s Vertigo score or Allen Ginsberg’s Howl at key points in a stadium show, or chose to end her concert with an unreleased song followed by a mass wispy singalong to John Denver’s miraculously revived cheesy classic Take Me Home, Country Roads?

But for all her reserve, Del Rey is a determined stylist and, as usual, she was happy to break the Belle Reve by signing autographs in the front rows right up to curfew, while the band noodled happily in bluegrass style.

READ MORE: Diana Ross & the RSNO, Glasgow review: 'her sweet tone shone through'