Over the weekend of Sept. 30th and Oct. 1st, an explosion of culture, unity, joy and live music hit Merriweather Post Pavilion as All Things Go Music Festival made its way to the pavilion for its second year in a row.
This is the first year the festival has succeeded in the selling out of the event, brought by some of the biggest artists in the current indie rock music scene with headliners of the festival Lana Del Rey, Boygenius, Maggie Rogers and Carly Rae Jepsen. The powerful women lead lineup helps cultivate the inclusive atmosphere, All Things Go strives and achieves to consistently create every year.
Across the two days, two stages and 32 acts the festival was filled with much to see. The first day of the festival featured performances from Mt. Joy, Dayglow, Lizzy Mcapline, Suki Waterhouse, Peach Pit, Maggie Rogers, Carly Rae Jepsen and several others.
The second day of the festival was just as jam packed with talent with performances midday from Ethereal Caine, Arlo Parks, Alvvays, Leith Ross, Alex G and many others.
The band Boygeuines made up of indie rock power houses Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julian Baker delivered a remarkable and emotional performance. It was the trio of ‘boys’ second time together performing at Merriweather Post Pavilion with a performance earlier this year in June at the Re:Set festival. Lucy Dacus, also seasoned at Merriweather with a solo performance at last year’s All Things Go.
Shortly after Boygenius left the pavilion stage audience in tears, alternative pop band MUNA made their way to deliver an energetic and upbeat set on the side stage. Feeling the energy and inclusive environment of fans, Lead singer of MUNA Katie Gavin joked, calling the festival “Lesbopalooza.” Muna fans started trickling back to the pavilion stage to prepare for headliner Lana Del Rey to begin her set.
38 year old, Lana Del Rey has seen massive success in the music industry, selling millions of copies of her 8 studio albums. Del Rey success is due to her unique, whimsical, soft style and low notes accompanied by her very fantasized, ethereal and poetic lyricism, often with symbols of romance, obsession, glamor and depictions of American culture in the 1950s-1970s.
It’s more than the music for some, and Lana Del Rey’s style is just as known as some of her music. Her keen style goes hand in hand with her music, both including the encapsulation of femininity, glitz, love, youth, and heartfelt American culture. She is often dressed in lace, red lipstick, heart shaped sunglasses and dramatic eyeliner cultivating this persona of old money, classic America and a woman in love.
Del Rey’s performance included songs from all throughout her over decade long career and was able to cater to her range of fans, most of which can be categorized into the millennials who grew up with Del Rey on her rise to fame with her massive hit albums during the early 2010s; Born to Die, Ultraviolence and Honeymoon or either Del Rey’s recent wave of fans; teenagers, who are experiencing the new age of Del Rey with her more recent albums, Did You Know There’s Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Chemtrails Over Country Clubs, Blue Banisters, and Norman F******* Rockwell.
The biggest and best surprise of the evening was when Del Rey brought out guest Jack Antonoff. Producer and songwriter, Jack Antonoff has worked with Del Ray on several projects and albums as well as other well known artists such as Taylor Swift, Lorde, and the 1975.
Even with the surprise performance, Jack Antonoff is no stranger to All Things Go, having performed the year prior, accompanied by Antoff’s band The Bleachers.
The angelic duo performed two songs together, one song being “Margaret” off Del Rey’s newest album, Did You Know There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, which features The Bleachers. The song was written in dedicated to Anntnoff and his now wife, actress Margaret Qualley’s relationship.
During another song in Del Rey’s performance, ‘The Grants’ Del Rey was joined by 3 incredibly talented back up singers which filled The Merriweather amphitheater with beautiful and angelic harmonies, showcasing Del Rey’s wide range of talents.
Many took to social media during and after the performance to joke about some of Del Rey’s comments during her set. She made references to the full moon taking place the night of her performance despite it not being a full moon and kept expressing her love for the city of Baltimore despite the performances taking place in Columbia, Maryland.
There was even a point during Del Rey’s performance where she gracefully thanked the crowd for allowing her to be dramatic.
And dramatic she was, in great Lana Del Rey fashion, when during her final song of the set, hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me, which depicts a melodramatic woman who is too kind and hopeful for her own good, feeling insane and cheated by the toxic masculinity Del Rey has faced in the music industry and Hollywood. Lyrics in the song like “24/7 Sylvia Plath,” and “They write that I’m happy, they know that I’m not. But, at best, you can see I’m not sad,” allude to this heartbroken yet pitifully hopeful woman. Del Rey makes her exit as she becomes wrapped in white cloth and carried off stage resembling her death.
Del Rey’s ethereal and magical performance will surely be remembered by the sold out crowd of the pavilion, and one can only wait to see how All Things Go will attempt to top these incredible performances next year.
