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Lana Del Rey calls out ex-tour manager for quitting days before Coachella headline set
‘Summertime Sadness’ singer claimed tour manager ‘quit for no reason’
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Lana Del Rey has hit out at her longtime ex-tour manager, whom she claims “quit for no reason” weeks before her headlining performance at Coachella 2024.
On Tuesday (16 April), days after her career-spanning set on the main stage at the California desert festival, the “Summertime Sadness” singer took to Instagram to post a long-winded reflection of the weekend.
Del Rey, 38, began by thanking Billie Eilish, Jon Batiste and Jack Antonoff “for showing up for me”. All three had joined her on stage for guest cameos.
Continuing, she thanked “Emily for stepping up as tour manager when Pete quit for no reason after 15 years because he was butt hurt that I got 10 comped bikes for free from [stunt coordinator] Wally [Crowder] and randomly decided he was more of a stage designer than a tour manager”.
“Never got a phone call probably never will,” she said, sarcastically adding: “No worries – 37 days was more than enough time to put together an entire headlining set all by ourselves. Not stressful at all.
“Still grateful for the 15 years though.”
The Independent was unable to find contact information for Del Rey’s former manager.
The Grammy-nominated artist also revealed that in the months leading up to her Coachella set, she and her band spent months in “a 40° warehouse” in Los Angeles that “was so cold” she developed laryngitis.
“I caught laryngitis that literally just left a few hours before I hit the stage,” Del Rey wrote.
Laryngitis is an inflammation of the vocal cords that is often caused by overuse, irritation or an infection, according to the Mayo Clinic.
During her Friday (13 April) show, Del Rey brought out pianist and composer Batiste as her first guest. The two performed “Candy Necklace” from her 2023 album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
She then surprised audiences by welcoming Eilish on stage to duet with her on (Eilish’s) “Ocean Eyes” and (Del Rey’s) “Video Games”.
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Before closing out her concert, Del Rey was joined by her collaborator, songwriter Antonoff, for a reading of her 2019 song “Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me – but I Have It”.
Del Rey will return for Coachella’s second weekend, taking place from Friday 19 April to Sunday 21 April.
Other major moments from the first weekend of the popular music festival, include a baffling stage appearance by Will Smith during Colombian singer J Balvin’s set, Grimes’s concert plagued by frustrating technical difficulties and Kesha taking aim at P Diddy with explicit new lyrics during her surprise performance of “TikTok”.
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