Dua Lipa

Some artists play their hits. And then there is Dua Lipa, who plays her hits and resurrects yours. On May 23 and 24, 2025, for her first-ever dates at Plenitude Arena, the British star delivered far more than a concert. She gave 45,000 spectators per night a total experience: festive, emotional, and punctuated by two surprises that made each evening uniquely unforgettable.

90,000 spectators. Two sold-out nights. The biggest pop icon of her generation makes Paris her own.

© Apolline Cornuet

Dua Lipa: two nights to reawaken the collective memory

8:30 PM exactly. The lights went out. A churning sea flooded the screens, a psychedelic echo of the Radical Optimism album cover. And Dua Lipa walked on stage a cappella, alone, her voice carrying the first notes of Training Season into the attentive silence of Plenitude Arena. Before the fireworks, the confetti and the choreography took over — and didn’t stop for two hours.

The Radical Optimism Tour is a perfectly engineered machine. Four distinct acts, each with its own costumes, atmospheres and visual worlds. A satin bodysuit and red glitter jumpsuit for the opening disco sequences. Cabaret energy with feathers and light on End of an Era. A fur coat and an aerial platform hoisted above the crowd on Love Again, with fireballs exploding in rhythm. Then cowboys and wild-maned horses across the giant screens for Falling Forever and Happy for You. And always Dua Lipa at the centre, running, dancing, whipping her hair, singing with a vocal power few expected to find at this scale.

The hits came without pause. Levitating, Break My Heart, One Kiss, Physical, Electricity, New Rules, Dance the Night, Don’t Start Now, Houdini. Every song was sung back by a pit on its feet and stands that never sat back down.

The moment no one saw coming.

On May 23, Dua Lipa stopped. She spoke in French, slowly, carefully. “Je suis très heureuse et reconnaissante d’être ici ce soir. La prochaine partie de mon show est ma préférée, parce que chaque soir je chante une chanson différente d’un artiste local. Et ce soir, je vais essayer de chanter en français. J’adore cette chanson. Si vous la connaissez, s’il vous plaît, chantez avec moi.”

The opening notes of Alizée’s Moi Lolita rose through Plenitude Arena. The room detonated. 45,000 people singing in unison. A song from the year 2000, resurrected in the largest indoor venue in Europe by one of the biggest pop stars in the world. Alizée herself responded on social media. A suspended, electric moment that will linger in memory for a long time.

On May 24, the surprise arrived in the name of Vanessa Paradis. Be My Baby rang out across the room, another declaration of love from Dua Lipa to French pop music. Two nights, two tributes, two generations summoned into the same collective shiver.

Four nights in France. 90,000 spectators in Paris. An artist who doesn’t just sing her hits, but reactivates collective memory and proves, night after night, that she belongs among the very greatest.

Each night closed on Houdini, Dua Lipa vanishing under a shower of sparks like a magic trick. The crowd checked its watch and realised two hours had passed without a single thought. There is no better definition of a concert well done.