It was a cold Valentine’s Day in Nashville but inside Bridgestone Arena, a sold-out crowd danced and generated enough heat to melt what is left of the polar ice caps. Pop-superstar Dua Lipa finally brought her long-awaited and long-delayed Future Nostalgia tour to Nashville. The singer is at long last out on the road promoting her 2020 album by the same name as the tour.
Future Nostalgia racked up countless Best of… awards by the end of 2020 and Dua was so proud of the work that she held onto the hope of touring with it one day instead of moving on to the next record. It was unquestionably worth the wait for her and especially her fans, as they were treated to a 90-minute high-energy set.
A video package introducing her band and dancer’s kicks things off before we are off to the races with back-to-back bangers in “Physical” and “New Rules.” The Grammy Award winner clad in a neon green bodysuit and surrounded by agile dancers danced around the multi-tiered stage throughout the night, making sure to include every corner of the arena in her celebration.
Every song turned into a sing-along and ended in a high pitch roar from the audience as they were treated to every song from her award-winning album of ‘no-skip’ songs. The first act of the show featured the two songs mentioned earlier as well as “Love Again,” “Cool,” “Pretty Please,” and “Break My Heart” all from Future Nostalgia. A return to her self-titled debut album ends the first act as Dua leaves the stage for her first costume change of the night.
After “Be the One” and a sing-along to “IDGAF,” a comic book style video plays showing Lipa being trapped in the sea and attacked by a giant lobster. Once Dua defeats the lobster, she appears back on stage with the defeated lobster and performs the reggae infused “We’re Good.” Act two continues with the sexually charged “Good in Bed” and finds the singer dedicating the song to one incredibly lucky fan as she lays on the catwalk grinding to the cheers of her adoring audience. “Fever” and the pro-feminism “Boys Will Be Boys” ends act two as Dua leaves for another costume change and her dancers make their way to the end of the catwalk for a dance-off.
Lipa joins her extremely talented group of dancers on stage and she performs the Calvin Harris produced “One Kiss” and “Electricity” produced by the power duo of Diplo and Mark Ronson better known as Silk City. A return to Future Nostalgia with “Hallucinate” is followed by her duet with Elton John on his “Cold Heart.”
After another costume change, Dua returns to the stage as a floating mini-stage has ascended from the heavens to take the singer on a ride as she sings “Levitating” as she floats across the standing room only crowd below her. The show isn’t quite over yet despite her saying her goodbyes to the packed Bridgestone Arena crowd. The 5-time Brit Award winner returns with dancers in tow for an encore that kicks off with the album’s title track. This was one of the highlights of a concert full of highlights, but it felt that this would have been the better song to start the show instead of nearly closing it.
Dua Lipa raced through a 90-minute setlist full of sing-alongs and dance numbers and saved her biggest hit to date for last. The enthusiastic crowd nearly drowned the singer out as they danced and screamed along in delight to “Don’t Start Now.” There was truly little filler in the show, which was very welcomed and appreciated. Instead, the focus was all on having an exciting time and a Valentine’s Day to be remembered for years to come.
Let’s just hope fans don’t have to wait as long for her next visit to Nashville.
Steven McCash is the Lead Music Writer and Utility Man for SoBros Network. Steven is the host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast, and the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music in addition to the occasional live show review. He also pitches in as a Nashville lifestyle writer and football analyst (hence the ‘Utility Man’ title). Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
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