Lana Del Rey expressed her deep gratitude for pretty much everyone who helped bring her headlining Coachella set to life — her band, her dancers, her management team, her production and stage crew, her special guests Billie Eilish, Jack Antonoff, Jon Batiste, and even her clairvoyant. Well, everyone, except her now ex-tour manager, who apparently quit just over a month before the performance.
Del Rey squeezed in the dig at ex-tour manager Pete in the middle of an otherwise effusive Instagram post, claiming he “quit for no reason after 15 years.” Del Rey then provided at least something resembling a reason, saying Pete allegedly left because he was “butt hurt that I got 10 comped bikes for free… and randomly decided he was more of a stage designer than a tour manager” (the bikes are ostensibly a reference to the motorcycles Del Rey used for her grand entrance).
“Never got a phone call probably never will,” Del Rey continued. “Still grateful for the 15 years though. No worries — 37 days was more than enough time to put together an entire headlining set all by ourselves. Not stressful at all.” (She then proceeded to heap praise on Pete’s replacement, Emily, saying “you fucking killed it with grace.”)
But apparently, Pete’s sudden departure wasn’t the only bit of chaos to engulf Del Rey’s preparations. She noted that her band spent “months” practicing in a Los Angeles warehouse that apparently got so cold Del Rey caught laryngitis. Luckily, the singer said, the infection “left just a few hours before I hit the stage,” with Del Rey giving all the credit to her clairvoyant/healer Tessa DiPietro, who “spent two hours lifting that cough remotely through her body intuitive skills just minutes before showtime.”
(Del Rey included a poem about DiPietro and her healing prowess in her book Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, and also expressed her admiration for DiPietro on Facebook back in 2020.)
Del Rey helped kick off Coachella with her headlining set closing out the festival’s first day, last Friday. It marked the singer-songwriter’s first performance at the festival since 2014. She’ll of course be back this Friday for weekend two.
Coachella is one of several festival gigs Del Rey has scheduled around the world this year, though the only other U.S. date she has is Hangout Fest in Alabama in May. She’s also prepping her next album, Lasso, a country record that’s expected to arrive in September.
