aThe most interesting bit of Dua Lipa’s between-song dialogue reveals that her Glastonbury headlining career was the result of a childhood behavioral manifestation. She explains that she detailed her desire to headline the Pyramid Stage right up to the night of the event, so that Friday would be the day “so I could party the rest of the weekend.” And now we’re watching a bizarre video of Dua Lipa signing autographs and writing “GLASTO 24” on a pane of glass before licking it.
Whether you believe the realization story or not, it’s clear that Dua Lipa has spent a lot of time carefully studying, absorbing and putting to good use what it takes to headline Glastonbury. Her appearance was met with some consternation, especially after her latest album, Radical Optimism, failed to replicate the global success of its predecessor, lockdown smash Future Nostalgia. But she already has a bank of inevitable hits, from New Rules to her Elton John collaboration Cold Heart, so half the battle is won. Plus, she’s put all her effort into the setlist to make it feel like an event, rather than just another pop show relocated to a field in Somerset where a world tour stop happens to be a farm.
There’s loads of confetti and fireworks. There’s so much fireworks in Levitating that you wonder what the finale will have, but it somehow manages to surpass it. There are crowd-pleasing references to the festival’s hedonism, but they don’t come from the singer herself, and she mostly just asks the crowd how they’re feeling. Instead, she takes to the stage to a famous scene from the 1966 biker film The Wild Angels, in which Peter Fonda gets drunk and says he wants to have a good time. And then there’s a guest appearance by Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, who is equally crowd-pleasing. His jeans and T-shirt are a stark contrast to the main attraction’s frequent costume changes. There’s a moment when the two playfully poke fun at the vocals, contrary to the show’s tightly choreographed atmosphere. Instead of a collaboration with Dua Lipa, she performs her biggest hit, “The Less I Know the Better,” which has been viewed more than 1.6 billion times.
Hallucinate makes some of Lipa’s more recent work pale in comparison. House-inspired and full of thrilling hooks, it may be one of the best pop singles of recent years, though that’s no claim on behalf of the serviceable but bland Houdini or Training Season. Radical Optimism is laced with a couple of less memorable cuts, like the pass-a-g Happy for You and the acoustic-guitar-driven These Walls.
The latter was the only track on the album that vaguely hinted at the Britpop influences she’d spoken about at length before its release, but listening to it tonight, it sounds similar to other songs that sold millions in the ’90s. It’s not a stretch to imagine Texas, Natalie Imbruglia or The Corrs singing it, but the setlist hides them so well among the hits that it’s barely noticeable. There’s always another ironclad bang: Levitating, Physical, Illusion.
“It’s incredible,” she gasps at one point, surveying the massive crowd, who remained motionless throughout. There’s none of the waste that suggests a Glastonbury headliner has failed to direct the audience to the festival’s other varied delights. This is an undeniable success.
