In October, Dua Lipa did a spectacular one-night-only live performance at London’s historic Royal Album Hall. It was a classy hometown coronation of sorts for the singer, who grew up in the city and has become one of the biggest pop artists to come out of the UK in the past decade. She pulled out all the stops for the event. Taking the stage in a red, floor-length Jean Paul Gaultier dress, a 53-piece orchestra and 14-member choir backed the singer alongside her crack, disco-steeped backing band. “There have been so many notable figures on this stage, like Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle and Einstein,” she told the crowd. “But I’m almost 99% sure they didn’t have a dress as nice as this.”
Now, that show is being commemorated for posterity with the 20-track live album, Dua Lipa Live From The Royal Albert Hall, which arrives ahead of a concert special of the same name airing on CBS December 15. The concert was a showcase for her 2024 album Radical Optimism, which she performed front-to-back in its entirety. Radical Optimism wasn’t a huge commercial success and many reviews regarded it as a somewhat tepid half-measure after the landmark success of her pandemic-released retro landmark Future Nostalgia. But the tracks shine here, rendered with seamless transitions, giving the whole thing a regal Donna Summer/Diana Ross grandeur. The enrapt crowd doesn’t even seem to mind that she didn’t do career-defining hits like “New Rules” and “IDGAF.”
After powering through her latest work, the singer moves on to Future Nostalgia tracks “Love Again,” “Pretty Please,” and “Levitating,” and a version of “Sunshine” by singer Cleo Soul. Royal Albert Hall also features killer takes on the Barbie hit “Dance the Night,” and a sleek stroll through her greatest hit, “Don’t Start Now,” with the crowd joining in on every word.
One of the night’s peak moments comes at the beginning of the encore. As the orchestra plays a Broadway-size interlude, Lipa starts singing the hook to Elton John‘s “Rocket Man,” and then brings out “a man who needs no introduction, Elton John!” The duo then jump into a show-stopping version of “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix),” their dance-pop collaboration from John’s 2021 collection The Lockdown Sessions. Along With its interpolation of “Rocket Man,” the song also weaves in bits of Elton’s 1989 hit “Sacrifice,” 1976’s “Where’s the Shoorah?” and 1983’s “Kiss the Bride.”
Produced by the Australian electronic-music trio Pnau, “Cold Heart” topped the charts globally and has become the most streamed song in Elton’s illustrious discography. “Having the opportunity to spend time with Dua, albeit remotely, has been incredible,” John said upon the song’s release. “She’s given me so much energy. She’s a truly wonderful artist, and person, absolutely bursting with creativity and ideas.”
It was an especially poignant moment for reasons that may not have been wholly clear to everyone on hand that night. A little over a month before taking the stage at the Royal Albert Hall, the pop icon revealed that he had experienced a “severe” eye infection over the summer that had limited vision in one eye. At the New York premiere of his documentary film Elton John: Never Too Late, he joked, “There’s not much of me left,” adding, “In fact, the only thing left to me is my left hip.” More recently, during the premiere of West End debut of the Devil Wears Prada musical on December 1, Elton revealed that he has now totally lost his vision.
That makes his appearance with Dua in October — as well as the live album and TV special — that much more meaningful. Elton sang that night sitting in a chair, but his voice wasn’t the slightest bit diminished as he leaned into “Cold Heart,” which is itself a tribute to the enduring legacy and influence of his music as well as his eternal relevance as a guiding light for new artists. It was the second time they’d done the song together live, and since it was likely being planned as the scope and severity of his health situation was still developing, the strength and warmth that comes through in his performance is truly inspiring. At a time when the whole world is pulling for him, he makes a special night that much greater.
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