This Sunday afternoon felt like a Saturday night at the Movistar Arena, which was not just a concert venue, but a huge disco for 15,000 people who were oozing dopamine. Dua Lipa is synonymous with partying, and a full-on party is what she delivered in the first of her two concerts in Madrid, both of which sold out.
The audience entered the sports palace with the mindset of a collective gym class and left, after almost two hours of recording vertical videos and dancing with arms in the air, with smiles on their faces: groups of boys and girls, forty-somethings, girls after their first encounter with the 4X4 bass drum rhythm reverberating against their sternum, and especially the people in the front row whom the artist hugged, talked to, and took selfies with during the concert.
The promise of eternal happiness, love, and sensuality was evident from the moment the fantastic singer emerged in front of an image of looping waves projected on the giant screen in the background. On stage, the infinity symbol shaped that proposal to immerse oneself in an endless joyful dream.
Dua Lipa offers the best party in the world at Mad Cool: "Spain is an incredible country, Madrid is exceptional, I truly love you"
Isabel Díaz Ayuso dances with Dua Lipa at Mad Cool
In her return to Madrid after headlining the Mad Cool festival last July, Dua Lipa focused her concert repertoire on her third album, Radical Optimism, from which she performed almost all the songs. Some are simply perfect: crafted dance-pop artifacts designed to uplift the spirits and energy of all who surrender to their relentless effectiveness. They contain a wide range of resources from the history of dance music and convey powerful messages of independence, power, and mischief in melodies that sing on their own. This is the case with Training Season, with which she started the concert, Illusion, a highlight of the performance, and of course Houdini, with which she closed the show amidst flashes of laser beams and the sixth confetti cannon blast.
Other songs from her latest album, however, lack that strength, and although the British artist of Albanian descent alternated them with safe bets from her catalog, at times the concert lost momentum and offered inconsequential moments (especially noticeable in the second act).
In addition to undeniable hits like One Kiss (her collaboration with Calvin Harris, with nearly 2.5 billion streams on Spotify), she reserved a special place in the encore for Dance The Night, her charming homage to the disco-pop sound of the movie Barbie, with its catchy chorus and double clap. A master at captivating audiences, Dua Lipa spoke in Spanish and also performed a cover of a Spanish song, Héroe, by Enrique Iglesias. "I am so grateful and so in love with Madrid and Spain," she said with the natural charm of a friendly diva.
From her retro-futuristic masterpiece, Future Nostalgia, she performed six songs, distributing them throughout the concert in the five acts that structured the show (each with corresponding wardrobe changes). Each of them was a demonstration and celebration of all the goodness that pop music can offer, and they are the main reasons why she is a global star today: Break My Heart, Levitating ("yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!"), Physical (explosive), Hallucinate (disco vibes), Love Again (amid a ring of fire, people going crazy), and Don't Start Now (the big chorus).
Tonight's concert marks the beginning of her European tour. Every movement and sound is meticulously choreographed, with 12 dancers on stage and a circular second stage in the center of the arena, allowing for closer interaction with the audience. The entire spectacle is broadcast on the central screen like a television show, designed with numerous stunning and even iconic moments, with the clear intention of going viral on social media. Everything is so controlled that, in fact, the artist's team contractually demands to review the photographers' photos before publication and select which ones can be used, a request deemed unacceptable by this newspaper (hence the decision not to accredit a photographer and illustrate this article with an image from a past concert).
The level of control also extends to the music, performed by a large group tasked with reproducing the high level of sophistication found in the albums' production. The latest album bears the signatures of two very different producers, composers, and arrangers: Danny L. Harle, one of the creators of hyperpop at PC Music, architect of Caroline Polacheck's fabulous sound, right-hand man to yeule, and collaborator of A.G. Cook (the mastermind behind Charli XCX's rhythms); and Kevin Parker, the mastermind behind the Australian band Tame Impala, one of the great psychedelic pop-rock groups of the last decade.
While Dua Lipa executed choreographies with some movement, she made sure not to run out of breath and could sing with the power and authority required by her anthemic choruses, especially the more heroic ones. With a mezzo-soprano vocal range, her voice delivers the deep tones of a mature woman: strong, captivating, and prone to rebellion, in line with her fabulous mane. This fierce woman, who will turn 30 this summer because she is, of course, summer personified, exudes the sensuality and confidence that deep voices project, contrasting with the childlike high pitches of other vocalists.
With her two concerts in Madrid, a crazy season begins for Spanish fans of Anglo-Saxon pop. On May 30 and 31, the British artist Ed Sheeran will perform at the Metropolitano stadium in the capital. The following week, Primavera Sound will bring Charli XCX to Barcelona, along with Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan as headliners. And on June 14 and 15, Billie Eilish has already sold out all tickets for her shows at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona.