In defence of Lana Del Rey’s tardiness

Lana Del Rey’s headline Glastonbury set was cut short on Saturday because the singer arrived on stage half an hour late. Explaining her tardiness, she said simply that her “hair takes so long”.

Up until the moment it was cut, Lana’s performance was by all accounts a triumph – The Guardian gave it five stars, despite its premature end. The problem is that Glastonbury has a strict midnight curfew for its two main stages. Right before this point, Lana said, “I’m so fucking late they may cut my set. I’m sorry, my hair takes so long. If they cut the power, let’s keep going.”

Shortly after this, and without any warning, her microphone and the video screens were shut off. She tried to plead with crew members at the side of the stage to let her finish her set, as the audience began to boo, but the organisers wouldn’t budge.

Lana tried to address the crowd, despite her microphone being switched off, and launched into an acapella rendition of “Summertime Sadness”, before leading the crowd in a sing-a-long of “Video Games”.

Perhaps she was already a little pissed off at the Glastonbury organisers: there was some tension earlier this year when they released a poster that didn’t indicate she was a headline act and instead listed her name in alphabetical order. Posting on her private Instagram, she wrote “Well, I’m actually headlining the 2nd stage. But since there was no consideration for announcing that, we’ll see.”

The decision to cut Lana off halfway through her set has generated a heated debate. As many fans saw it, this was a disrespectful and even sexist move, while detractors criticised her for a lack of professionalism and argued she only had herself to blame. It’s strange that Glastonbury has such a strict curfew in the first place, considering it takes place on a farm in the middle of nowhere and some events last all night – who’s going to complain about the noise? The decision to cut her off seems somewhat pedantic and mean-spirited, then, but whether it’s an act of misogyny targeted at Lana specifically, I’m not convinced: plenty of men have had festival sets cut for the same reason.

I do, however, believe that it’s unrealistic to expect Lana Del Rey to adhere to something so prosaic as a schedule – she’s a poetess! Leave efficient time-keeping to the management consultants of the world. Being a little messy, a little ethereal, is part of her appeal: no true Lana fan would object to her being late on account of her doing her hair, when that’s literally her whole vibe… In any case, 30 minutes doesn’t seem egregiously tardy: some artists have kept fans waiting for several hours. Let’s cut her some slack, and keep in mind that her hair did, in fact, look very nice – does that count for nothing?