Glastonbury 2023: Lana Del Rey explains the reason for delayed performance
Lana Del Rey provided one of the highlights of Glastonbury Festival 2023 so far, delivering a career-defining performance with tracks that offered a glimpse at the future alongside a nostalgic revisit of the songs that have brought her this far. Nevertheless, the show ended in terrible circumstances as power was cut by event organisers after exceeding the strict curfew.
Amidst the excellent range of tracks, Del Rey welcomed heavy controversy after her performance was delayed by 30 minutes. The singer, who was scheduled to perform between 22:30 and 23:45, was unexpectedly absent as the crowd were forced to wait.
While performing, explaining how she was “rushing the set” because of the delay, Del Rey revealed that her preparations caused issues.
“I’m so fucking late that I’m super sorry,” she said. “I’m about to rush the set, my hair takes so fucking long to do”.
“If they cut power, they cut power,” she added. “I’m super fucking sorry. My hair takes so fucking long. Let’s keep running the set as it’s supposed to go”.
Of course, Del Rey knew that cutting the power was an inevitability. Glastonbury, and the surrounding area, have established a long and strict ruling on noise pollution and the balance of how late music can be played on certain stages.
As soon as power was cut during the performance, Del Rey appeared visibly upset at the decision. As she pleaded with stagehands to allow her to keep playing, the crowd began to boo and jeer. In an attempt to soften the blow, the singer turned to the audience and led them through an a cappella rendition of ‘Summertime Sadness’ to no avail.
This situation arrived as the second mini-controversy surrounding her performance at the event. In March, Del Rey was forced to clarify the confusion surrounding her performance at Glastonbury Festival 2023. While Del Rey was confirmed as being on the line-up by the organisers, she cast doubt on her role in the event following perceived bewilderment caused by the official poster. “Thanks for announcing that I was headlining the other stage. Thumbs up,” she sarcastically wrote on social media.
“Well, I’m actually headlining the 2nd stage,” she added. “But since there was no consideration for announcing that we’ll see.” The issue was quickly rectified when Glastonbury released a revised poster, with Del Rey’s name higher on the bill alongside the likes of headliners Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses and Sir Elton John.
Del Rey’s return to Worthy Farm has been a long time in the making, with the American singer revealing that she rejected the chance to play at the festival three times before this year, feeling she wasn’t ready for such a notable performance. “They had asked me to play Glastonbury the last three years but we just weren’t ready. I didn’t want to say yes before we had a big band,” she BBC Radio 1’s Clara Amfo.
When discussing the performance, Del Rey added: “I’ve been excited to tell people, so I wanted to tell people because, as we started to announce some festivals, its unfathomable to me to headline the second stage of Glastonbury.”
Despite the issues, and for the short time she was on the stage, Del Rey pulled out all the stops. Her performance, which clashed with Guns N’ Roses on the main stage, went above and beyond and, perhaps more importantly, opened up more questions about the scheduling process of Glastonbury Festival. However, despite her efforts, the unfortunate situation will undoubtedly leave a black mark on what could have been a historic evening for the singer.
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