Lana Del Rey’s Sweet Sadness

Singing her sweetly, seductively sad songs, Lana Del Rey gave a great, if a bit unsurprising, performance at the S.B. Bowl on Friday, September 8. While the prolonged dirge of her set and her unaffected, subdued stage presence likely wouldn’t have converted detractors who think her to be one-note, they may, at least, have dispelled some sense that all her crestfallen crooning is just artful commerce (read: the ticket-sale merch-purchase requirement); with a graceful, gorgeous voice, she went for the tear ducts. On newer songs like “Cherry,” “Love,” and “Change,” she channeled a sea-deep melancholy, coming off as more a woeful folk artist than pop-artifice artifact. With her talents still rising, when the action onstage can match the drama of her music, she will be a real live act to remember.