Lana Del Rey Slays FAU Students in Miami Sunday Night

Flower crowns, screaming fans and tears flooded The Fillmore in Miami Beach, Fla. Sunday night as indie-pop princess Lana Del Rey performed to a sold-out crowd of over 2,700 people – mostly teenage girls and early 20-something year olds.

Fans had been lining up at the venue as early as 8 a.m. Sunday morning to see the ‘cola’-crooner grace the stage to perform her 13-song set list.

“I had been waiting to see Lana for years. Being here tonight means more to me than you will ever know,” said senior communication and multimedia studies major Craig Reynolds.

Excitement built as fans stood in a line that stretched down the block of Washington Ave. and wrapped around an adjacent street. The excitement was not just a result of anticipation for the show, but also from the venue’s unorganized first attempt at a ticket-less event.

There was much confusion as to which line was for will-call tickets and which line was for credit card entry. This created an anxious atmosphere that ballooned when a few concert goers brawled it out over an attempt to skip the line was made.

“The venue was really unorganized,” said senior communication and multimedia studies major Justin Williams. “Because of the unorganization I was not able to get to the front of the stage like I wanted to.”

Doors opened about 7 p.m. and fans rushed into the theater to fight — metaphorically and physically — to get to the front of the stage.

The show’s opener was DJ Sidewayz. Spinning a mixture of ‘80s and electronic dance music beats, Sidewayz did nothing but bore the crowd to sleep.

“I nodded off when he was on stage,” said Reynolds.

Del Rey made her debut promptly at 9 p.m. and was greeted with a sea of screaming fans that erupted into a fangirling frenzy that drowned out most of the live band’s music.

“From the moment I saw her, I burst into tears. I was so overwhelmed with emotions that I just sobbed and sobbed,” said Reynolds.

This was the reaction from most of the audience members throughout the first portion of the show. Along with the tears, screams and flower-crown chucking, fans were able to get up close and personal with Del Rey when she walked down into the crowd after performing her award-winning song “Born To Die.”

“‘Born to Die’ is my favorite Lana song and she slayed me when she performed it,” said junior biology major Christina Lovett.

Del Rey herself was overcome with emotion, even wiping tears from her eyes.

“You guys are awesome. Miami has inspired me so much and I love you guys,” she said to the crowd after performing the ninth song in the setlist, “Carmen.”

“Summertime Sadness” was one of the many highlights of the show. Del Rey sung about half of the song as she pointed her mic outward to the crowd and allowed the sing-along sea to chant the lyrics of the US Billboard Hot 100 hit.

Del Rey’s vocals were able to roar over the deafening crowd of enthusiastic fans during “Ride”– a song that reached the upper echelons of the Official U.K. Singles Chart.

“‘Ride’ was my favorite part of the show. That song and performance had me in tears. It has so much meaning for me and my life,” said Lovett.

Del Rey closed the show with “Video Games” and “National Anthem” — two songs from her sophomore album “Born to Die”.

Both songs were met, not surprisingly,  with a sonic sing-a-long and tears. However, it was during “National Anthem” that the crowd got to experience something few concert goers get to see.

After performing the trip-hop record, Del Rey descended back into the audience where she took various selfies, signed vinyl records and shook hands with many of the fans who were in the front row of the audience.

“I hope to see you again soon,” Del Rey said before walking off stage from a crowd that basically worshiped her every movement the whole night.

“Lana’s performance was flawless,” said Williams. “I pray that she’ll be returning sooner rather than later…my fingers are crossed.”