Lana Del Rey as she finally took to the stage in San Francisco on Friday night. It was the torch singer's first official Bay Area gig, not including an appearance at a record store a few years back. And she made it count. The New York-based singer, who was on the West Coast to perform at Southern California's Coachella music festival, delivered a dizzying, hypnotic evening of music for the capacity crowd of 8,000 exuberant fans at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. For whatever reasons, Del Ray does not have an extensive history of performing live (she's probably best known in this regard for an awkward, much-criticized appearance on "Saturday Night Live" in 2012). But she did perform some 50 concerts last year and has embarked on a U.S. tour. And if she suffers from stage fright or has problems performing on stage, it didn't show on Friday night. Del Rey sounded even better live than she does in the studio, which -- as anyone who has listened to 2012's masterful major-label debut "Born to Die" could tell you -- is no small feat. She seemed to be buoyed by the crowd, feeding on its energy and adoration and sending both back in kind..
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