Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle and Albert Einstein are not names you expect to hear invoked at a pop concert, but they all got a mention as Dua Lipa made her Royal Albert Hall debut (with a surprise appearance from Elton John). “So many notable figures have stood on this very stage,” announced the 29-year-old British-Albanian singer and songwriter, immodestly adding herself to their ranks, then joking about how she was pretty sure they hadn’t worn an outfit like hers.
In a slinky red Jean Paul Gaultier split-leg dress and arm-length gloves, Lipa came dressed for the occasion. As, indeed, did the Hall itself. I’ve never seen the august venue decked out quite like this. The entire arena floor doubled as the stage, split by a shiny curving LED lit catwalk weaving between members of a 53-piece orchestra and 14-piece choir, alongside the pop star’s usual seven-piece band. A hi-tech circular lighting rig loomed overhead, and the whole place seemed to shine, with 5,000 audience members lit up for TV cameras catching the action from every angle.
The Hall counts as an intimate gig for Lipa, currently Britain’s reigning pop star, last spotted headlining Glastonbury festival in front of a quarter-of-a-million ravers. “I’ve been thinking about this show for a very long time,” Lipa admitted of her debut orchestral performance. “I want to take it very seriously.” There is a sense, perhaps, in which this most ambitious and strategic of stars feels she has something to prove. She has risen to the top as a powerful singer, smart pop songwriter and athletic dancer with a reputation for controlled commercial perfectionism, but this year’s Radical Optimism album hasn’t quite caught fire the way 2020’s Future Nostalgia did.