controversial Lana Del Rey cancels/reschedules shows, Amy Klein/Hilly Eye announce some dates too

by Andrew Sacher

Lana Del Rey at Glasslands last week (photo by Ryan Muir for Stereogum)
Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey, who initially announced that her “official live debut” would take place at NYC’s The Box and LA’s Hotel Cafe, has rescheduled both of those dates and added a number of European shows too. The new US dates haven’t been announced yet but, according to a press release, they are set to take place in larger venues than the ones they were originally scheduled for. She also played a secret, unofficial warm up show at Glasslands in Brooklyn on September 14 under the name Queen of Coney Island. That’s a picture from the much talked about show above.

Lana Del Rey is also continuing to stir up controversy about whether or not there’s any authenticity to her music or image. Amy Klein (of Titus Andronicus) thinks the problem with Lana Del Rey isn’t about sincerity, but that she’s a representation of what’s wrong with the American culture that her image evokes. In her blog, Amy writes:

Lana Del Ray is exactly as real as the past, for the past is exactly what she recalls. She takes the days when women wore floral skirts and orange lipstick and waited at home for their husbands to come home from work so they (the women) could bring them (the men) martinis with olives and makes them real again (the men, the women, the martinis, and the olives.)

Lana Del Ray is sitting at home waiting for you to come home so she can fix you dinner and a drink. Lana Del Ray is waiting for you to come home so she can watch you play video games on the couch and ignore her all day until it’s time for bed. Lana Del Ray is waiting for you to come home so you can go to bed and act out all of your wildest fantasies which is exactly what she wants to do–what you want to do, that is. Lana Del Ray is waiting for you because she is your mirror.

So it doesn’t matter if Lana Del Ray is entirely sarcastic when she belts out, “It’s YOU, it’s YOU, it’s all for YOU.” It doesn’t matter that there is an edge to her voice that sounds something like rage and despair. Lana Del Ray has conquered America with plastic surgery, video games, a regression to nostalgia, and an appeal to the sex drive of every male music critic on the planet. It doesn’t matter if she has anything real to sell because Lana Del Ray has made us think about the relationship between selling fantasy and selling lies.

Lana Del Ray is the lie we like to tell ourselves–that America has always been, and will always be, this gorgeous woman who can make all our dreams come true. So it doesn’t matter if she loves you or hates you because she is going to take all of your money and you are going to let her get away with it. That’s the reality of who she is.

We are narcissistic and self-obsessed and so is Lana Del Ray. We are a country in decadent, navel-gazing decline–fading, intoxicated, and longing for the past, but still so beautiful, staring straight into the lens and smiling as we shoot an American tragedy.

The full piece is on Amy’s site. Info on Lana’s new US shows will be announced next week. You can check out her European dates below.

Speaking of Amy Klein, she has shows coming up too. She and “the Blue Star Band” open for Vivian Girls at Knitting Factory on Tuesday (9/20) and play with Bird of Youth at Union Hall on 9/29. Her other project Hilly Eye play Bruar Falls on September 27 with Puta de Cava, Noon:30, and Mensch. They also play Bowery Ballroom on October 8 with Screaming Females, Underground Railroad to Candyland, and Shellshag and November 2 at Death by Audio with Nisennenmondai, Little Women, and Pet Bottle Ningen. Hilly Eye also recently joined facebook and they hint at a full length album being in the works.

All dates below…


Lana Del Rey — 2011 Tour Dates
1/04 – Manchester, UK @ Ruby Lounge
11/05 – Glasgow, UK @ Oran Moir
11/07 – Paris, France @ Nouveau Casino
11/10 – Amsterdam, Holland @ Upstairs at Paradiso
11/12 – Cologne, Germany @ Gebauede 9
11/14 – Berlin, Germany @ Roter Salon
11/16 – London, UK @ Scala
11/17 – Birmingham, UK @ HMV Institute
TBA – New York, NY
TBA – Los Angeles, CA


Amy Klein — 2011 Tour Dates
Sep 20 – Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY
Sep 29 – Union Hall, Brooklyn, NY

Hilly Eye — 2011 Tour Dates
9/25 at Great Scott in Allston with Big Nils
9/27 at Bruar Falls in Brooklyn with Puta de Cava, Noon:30, Mensch
10/5 at Valentines in Albany with Wye Oak
10/8 at Bowery Ballroom in Brooklyn with Screaming Females, Underground Railroad to Candyland, Shellshag
11/2 at Death by Audio in Brooklyn w/ Nisennenmondai, Little Women, Pet Bottle Ningen