It is impossible not to dance at a Dua Lipa concert.
Lipa’s energetic, synchronized dancing is infectious. It’s too easy to join in. The beams of strobing light and planet props overhead help you enter a glittery world where you can escape your reality for a while. More show than concert, the Future Nostalgia tour is incredibly entertaining fun.
Dua Lipa performed at State Farm Arena on Feb. 12, the third stop in her Future Nostalgia tour. The 90-minute set included a mix of songs from the album and older anthems like “New Rules” and “One Kiss.”
Opener Lolo Zouaï’s experimental hip-hop and R&B built up the excitement before the night’s main event. She transformed the 680,000 square feet arena into an intimate venue: lights dimming and alternating between dusty pink and red as she bounced around the stage. “We’ve been waiting for this show for two years, Atlanta!” Zouaï reminded the audience.
After Zouaï’s performance, Caroline Polachek took the stage with commanding vocals that went hand in hand with her movements: sweeping arm gestures and twirls. The smoky blue projection of a gate glimmering on a screen behind her set up a dreamlike atmosphere.
As the audience filtered through the doors, many outfits stood out– cowboy hats, wigs, glittery dresses, sequins and space-themed sets all gleamed among the crowd, fitting “Future Nostalgia’s” theme.
Then, the familiar first bars of “Physical” echoed out into the arena and Dua Lipa rose from underneath the stage in a bright yellow bodysuit, starting the show with a burst of power that she continued to project throughout.
“One Kiss” was the mid-point of the show. In a performance reminiscent of a flash-mob, Lipa and her dancers embraced the high-energy hip-hop choreography, chanting “jump” as the lights flashed green and the chorus hit. The audience bounced, palms outstretched upwards as balloons and confetti dropped down to encourage them further.
Dancing was the show’s backbone, its importance seen in the way the dancers were introduced in a montage at the show’s start and the instrumental chunks during which they had the audience’s full attention. At the end of “Boys Will Be Boys,” a heavier song about the challenges of being a woman, the dancers gathered on the secondary stage and danced enthusiastically to an upbeat “Hollaback Girl” remix: a reminder to reclaim and revel in girl power.
Lipa’s performances were coordinated and organized — to the point that I wondered if they differed at all between shows. The choreography was well-planned, like the brief moment in “Electricity” when the lights went out and the music stopped — save for a beat stirring faintly in the background. Lipa and the dancers momentarily pretended to be confused before we were thrust back into the chorus with renewed momentum.
Yet still, elements of surprise stood out: the reinvention of songs, the added medleys, the seemingly spontaneous kick when the beat dropped in “Hallucinate” and the hypnotic spins and hair flips with which Lipa ended the show.
The performers took a different approach to “Cold Heart,” Lipa’s track with Elton John. Lipa asked the audience to hold up their phone flashlights, and suddenly the arena was a sea of swaying bodies glowing red. The cheers quietened to murmurs, all eyes on the stage. Lipa and her dancers gathered together onstage in an intimate rendition, singing directly to the audience. Lipa broke into a big smile when John’s part played, huddling close to her dancers as they held hands and moved gently along to the music. It was cathartic to sing in unison, the melody both lulling and uplifting.
A display of love and community, the performance created what I can best describe as a safe space, a feeling that continued to float in the air afterward.
Perhaps the most anticipated song of the night, “Levitating,” was preceded by a painfully slow build-up; the moon visual in the background slowly gained saturation before Lipa stepped onto a platform to float above the crowd and the familiar intro played out. Vivid hues of orange and neon pink lit up the screen as she sang to the different sections of the crowd.
Just like Lipa’s music straddles the line between genres, the night’s performance exceeded the labels of a concert and show. Part disco-pop, part electro-pop, the contemporary and nostalgic worked in tandem. This duality shone throughout the performance.
In a recent interview with Stephen Colbert, Lipa said she released the album amid the pandemic as a way of escape for her fans. Two years later with the weight of the pandemic still bearing down, the feeling of escapism persists: a moment nostalgic for the past just as much as it longs for the future.
Lipa was determined to give her audience a show complete with colorful visuals and lights, coordinated outfits and big props. The Future Nostalgia show was an electrifying performance, transporting me to a disco-lit galactic world. I left the arena with my toes still tingling, the urge to dance not quite dispelled.
