I love music. Ever since I was young, listening to songs by my favorite artists has always been an escape from the pressures of reality. Like many other college students who feel the same way, seeing my favorite artists perform their songs live gives me an unexplainable feeling of euphoria.
Attending live shows, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been very difficult due to health and safety concerns. If that wasn’t enough, ticket-scalpers have been buying and selling tickets at an increased price to fans because the demand to attend live shows has surged. Once you’re one of the lucky few fans who secured tickets, the excitement and anticipation of seeing the performer grows until the day finally arrives.
I was fortunate enough to attend Dua Lipa’s concert at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, on Friday, February 11. I’ve been looking forward to attending this concert for a couple of months; I received the tickets as a Christmas gift, and the date passed by so fast! The only downside to looking forward to and attending concerts, in my opinion, is how quickly they go by.
Once I was in the arena, the sounds of the speakers and the lights built up my excitement until Dua came out on stage. Her concert outfits were absolutely amazing! She wore a neon yellow pantsuit for the first act in contrast to her background dancers, who all wore royal blue pantsuits. For the second act, she changed out of the pantsuit and into a white bedazzled top with glittery shorts, which then later became a hot pink bra, black pants, and black blazer to match. For the final act, she dressed in a black, sheer/nude skin-tight outfit with long sleeves and pant legs, which had small rhinestones/sparkles to create a shimmery effect that could be seen all around the arena. The outfits were stunning, and out of all the concerts I have attended, she had some of the best stage outfits I have seen!
The setlist was also phenomenal and in all honesty, has set the bar for how concert setlists should be. She performed some of her best songs (in my opinion) starting off the concert strong with her hit “Physical,” following it with her 2017 single “New Rules.” The song brought me back to the memories made during the summer of 2017 (Dua really hit the nail on the head by naming her tour “Future Nostalgia”). “Love Again” was next — a new favorite song of mine that has been on repeat since the concert concluded that Friday night. During her performance, Dua has a lot of guest-star appearances on stage, all were pre-recorded for her songs, including Elton John and Angele. These features in her songs surprised me and made the concert even better by adding that extra “punch” to make her performance really special.
The show’s special effects were also spectacular and made the night something I can never forget. I was seated in the 200s section of the arena, or in other words, extremely high up. I had one of the best views since I was able to see the entire stage, the lighting and all the screens. One of her effects was the structure of glass and LED light-up spheres that hung in a cube above the main stage. These spheres would flash and change color throughout the show depending on the mood, flow and beat of the song currently being sung. During her final act, she dropped hundreds of balloons of varying sizes into the audience when the chorus began for “Hallucinate.” In the seconds leading up to when Dua performed her 2020 hit “Levitating,” she showed a space-themed montage on the screen, showcasing planets and interstellar visuals and mystical background music. Finally, in between acts three and four, Dua had a scene in her show called “the lobster attacks.” This giant inflatable lobster joined the stage, and she “dipped” her feet into a cutout with blue light shining from below to create the illusion she was dipping her feet into the water. This was such a fun memory because no other performing artist has ever had something like this on stage!
Being the second show on Dua’s “Future Nostalgia” North American tour, I feel so lucky to have been able to see her sing and dance live — her vocals are no joke, her outfits, charisma, stage presence and overall “vibe” of the night was showstopping, and I would love to see her perform again!