Music

During the first of her four nights at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, September 17th, Dua Lipa stopped and took it all in. From a raised platform about 20 feet in the air, the pop star reflected on her love for the city and its premier venue, expressing gratitude to be back headlining The Garden once again. She had been in the exact position — literally — in 2022, on a raised platform high in the air that weaved back and forth throughout the arena as she performed “Levitating” during her “Future Nostalgia Tour.” Three years later, there she was again, high above us all, commanding us to dance. Has anything changed?

Quite a bit, but at the Dua Lipa show, it’s all relative. The star’s “Radical Optimism Tour” is an advancement from her prior US outing in some ways, but certain tent poles of the Dua Lipa live experience remain unchanged. For one, it is every bit a showcase of her catalog as it is an ecstatic, celebratory dance party, each song somehow groovier than the last. Certain songs were presented in similar fashion as her prior outing: “One Kiss,” “Electricity,” and “Hallucinate” were center stage club moments, while “Physical” was once again an energetic ’80s workout video come to life.

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But above all, Dua Lipa continues to be tastefully extra. A lot like the tour before it, this concert had all the bells and whistles of a great pop show — and then some. I counted six costume changes and just as many confetti explosions. There were moments of casual pyro, not always at the climax of songs but sometimes straight in the middle of one. The songs’ movements were elaborate, the choreography gripping and occasionally silly (the ‘lets all hold hands and skip in a circle’ dance moment at the conclusion of “Electricity” was both hilarious and strangely moving). The “Future Nostalgia” run remains supreme, but this new “Radical Optimism” endeavor is its own beast entirely — a more confident, more playful, and somehow even more joyous celebration.

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Perhaps the biggest variable in the mix this time around are Lipa’s various crowd engagements and cover renditions. The latter has been a particularly rewarding move for her, using each city as an opportunity to honor its rich musical output while also just trying something new and risky.

For last night’s show, Lipa seemed genuinely nervous to bust out her nightly cover, telling the audience that her choice was personal (while also being a generally challenging song to sing) and revealing that it would be Alicia Keys’ “No One.” She then played a video of her singing “No One” as an adolescent before launching into her cover, which was a treat; Keys and Lipa have settled on very different styles of music, but they both have a powerful, commanding range and an unmistakeable touch of rasp. It would have been extra special to see Keys join her for the rendition, but alas, maybe for Night Two.

The main unpredictable segment of the concert, however, was a mid-show moment where Lipa made her way to the B-stage and stopped to chat and take selfies with fans at the barricade. So many artists do fan interactions during their show, but it’s often during a song or off-handedly from the stage. I couldn’t have been the only one who felt slightly nervous watching Lipa stroll through the crowd and engage with her most enthusiastic fans for not just a minute, but a full 10-15 minute segment. No music, no security guard dividing Lipa and her audience; just a barricade, a camera man, and Lipa’s casual charm.

You have to be so utterly confident to open yourself up to the unpredictable mid-show, to let others speak directly into your microphone and essentially say anything. It’s impressive from a social level that she’s been doing this so publicly at every stop of the tour, and luckily, her faith in her fans was endearing last night; when Lipa spoke to one incredibly enthusiastic fan and asked how she was enjoying the show, the woman responded “I CANNOT HEAR WHAT YOU ARE SAYING” (yes, in all caps), and the arena erupted with laughter.

It was a sweet, wholesome moment that stuck out within a concert that had a lot of highlights. When watching Lipa’s show, it’s easy to see her as an enigma, a symbol of beauty and prowess, so magnetic that she feels like a fictional character in a TV show about a great pop star. But this segment with her and her fans was a really lovely reminder that of course, she’s human, she’s funny, and she shares the same passion as her most devoted audience members.

There were several other aspects to the production that really worked in Dua’s favor. The lighting was generally outstanding; a large infinity-shaped ring of light wrapped around the stage, with it forming the crest of a wave right at the center. It led to some dazzling visuals, especially as the aesthetic themes that accompanied each song transformed from one into another.

What didn’t exactly work, however, was the show’s intro. There was definitely an aquatic theme at play, in line with the Radical Optimism album cover and the aforementioned ‘wave of light’ streaking across center stage. But the show began with a particular long and meditative into, where lush, watery tones and images of waves crashing in slow motion played for almost a full 10 minutes before Lipa started singing. It was as if we started the show at the Whale Room from the Museum of Natural History, and even as the pre-show soundtrack grew in dynamics, it still felt like we were supposed to be closing our eyes and imagining ourselves in the middle of the ocean.

I’m all for an immersive opening, but then Lipa finally arrived onstage and began the show with “Training Season,” which was totally incongruous (both musically and thematically) to the whole ocean vibe being cultivated. She had to play “Training Season,” of course, but it was not the strongest opening track either; it’s at such a high part of her voice, and she performed the first verse so slowly, that it set us off on the wrong foot for the start of the show. Also, this aquatic-style theme totally disappeared throughout the concert, never to be reprised for the various Radical Optimism tracks she performed.

Eventually, as the show’s movements unfolded and Dua found her stride, the evening transformed into what a Dua Lipa concert should be: an absorbing spectacle and a hell of a lot of fun. By the time she was back on that elevated platform, confetti cannons blazing and the crowd dancing below, it was clear that while plenty has changed since 2022, her ability to turn Madison Square Garden into her personal dance floor remains wonderfully, reliably intact.