Lana Del Rey. TD Garden/Boston. January 13, 2018

Singer/songwriter Lana Del Rey brought her "LA To The Moon" tour to Boston this weekend and with moody lighting and dreamy video sequences more than lived up to her reputation as a purveyor of melancholy pop music. And while at times appearing aloof and distanced (at one point laying flat on her back on the stage, viewable only by overhead projectors) this stance did nothing to dim the crowd's love and enthusiasm for her. In fact, one could argue that the act of appearing "not to care" actually made her fans love her more.

Her latest album "Lust for Life" (released back in July of 2017) debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. It quickly joined the ranks of many "Best of" music lists with NME ranking it the 8th album of the year and Pitchfork placing it at #8 as well in its "Top 20 best pop albums of 2017." The album clearly shows her development as a songwriter with several of the tracks being the highlights of her performance. Opening the show with "13 Beaches" gave the crowd a nicely uptempo (though still rather maudlin) beginning. This was immediately followed by "Pretty When You Cry," which of course made everyone start crying. Oh boy, And this was only song #2. Another highlight off the new album was "When the World Was At War We Kept Dancing." Its melancholy tone (of course) accentuated by the archival film footage projected behind her. It was a beautiful moody moment in an evening of several.

This seems to be the one thing about her performance. Seemingly rooted in nostalgia for the '50s and '60s pop culture, Lana Del Rey, nevertheless, presents it as firmly modern. I chock it up to generational distance. Her video rendition of "Happy Birthday Mr. President" leading into "National Anthem" with its JFK references (Lana plays both Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy with ASAP Rocky as John F. Kennedy) was odd and perhaps hasn't held up in the years since the song's release.

Aside from these historical missteps Lana Del Rey's channeling of this era's trappings (right down to her contemporary revisioning of the '60s mod haircuts) never felt kitschy, perhaps due to her earnestness? There weren't many moments where I felt that she had miscalculated. Those moments tended to stem from her backup dancers who at times appeared to be channeling the dance sequences from the old "Batman" television show or possibly "Laugh-In." I'm pretty sure at one point they did the "Bat-usy."

The minimalist "Beach-esque" stage set-up was quaintly simplistic. In an age where every arena tour seeks to outdo the previous, it was charming to see a simple stage and performer. Her dreamy, super-8 style projections definitely aided in situating her performance in an earlier time. I initially felt it was an odd choice (was she being cheap? Couldn't she afford better stage design?) but ultimately it worked. This simplicity kept the focus on her and her music. It was charmingly retro. Perhaps other artists should take some notes? Sometimes bigger isn't always better.

For more on Lana Del Rey, including upcoming tour dates, visit her website.