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Instead of a traditional tour, Lana Del Rey is on the festival circuit this year after a four year hiatus from touring (which was mostly due to the pandemic). She started out at MITA festival in Brazil and just performed at Glastonbury in the UK. She was half an hour late at Glastonbury, and because the festival has a strict curfew, her mic got cut off when she had six songs left to go in her set. You all know that I love Lana very much, but I rolled my eyes so hard at Miss Girl’s explanation for being late: her hair just takes so long, okay?

Lana Del Rey showed up for her set at the Glastonbury music festival a half-hour late—and her mic was cut an hour later when curfew arrived. With six songs still to go, she tried to sing a cappella with her fans but was eventually escorted away. As for why she was late, Del Rey told the disappointed crowd, “My hair takes so long to do,” adding that she was “super sorry,” according to the BBC.

[From The Daily Beast]

There is actually footage of her fans singing Video Games after her mic was cut, which is pretty cool. I always get a little emotional when I hear so many people singing the same song like that. She looked visibly upset when she was escorted off the stage. Now, I;m not sure that her hair was the problem. I think she had a case of nerves. Lana strikes me as someone with quickly changing moods and a tendency towards self-sabotage, like one of her idols, Marilyn Monroe. She opened the MITA sets in a Marilyn wig, cosplays as Marilyn in her most recent music video, and has referenced Marilyn in her songs. I think MM is hugely influential in Lana’s mind. Marilyn was often late to set because of debilitating stage fright. The more famous she got, the more pressure she felt to be perfect, and the harder it was for her to get to set on time. (She also had substance abuse issues, which didn’t help.) People put up with Marilyn because she created pure magic on screen. But most of the time, that kind of lateness isn’t tolerated in the music world. Filming days can run long, but concerts don’t allow for the same kind of leeway.

I think Lana sometimes experiences the same kind of performance anxiety, but that’s just my hunch. There’s precedence for it. She’s never been the most confident live performer, as her infamous SNL appearance revealed. Remember when she had a cover story with Rolling Stone, only to try to pull out of it halfway through the interview? If stage fright is the reason why she was late, I have more understanding for that. But if it really was her hair? Girl, only Mariah Carey can get away with that level of diva. Only the Elusive Butterfly Chanteuse. It’s a lousy reason to let all these people down who have been waiting all night–and four years before that. All this also comes after she pitched a fit on her now-defunct Instagram about not being listed as a headliner on the poster, and even threatened to pull out of the festival if it wasn’t fixed. If you want the headliner spot, act like one. Be professional, show up on time.

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photos credit: Justin Ng / Avalon and Getty