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On Sept. 9, Dua Lipa emerged through a veil of smoke on the stage at TD Garden for the first night of her “Radical Optimism” tour’s two-day run in Boston. From the opening moment, a delicate balance between overarching confidence and earnest vulnerability set a high standard for both the production value and musical capabilities that would unfold throughout the show.

As blue and white colors swirled across the backdrop and wave sounds echoed from the stage, the Garden was filled with a sea of cameras taking videos in anticipation of Lipa’s arrival. However, she kept everyone waiting for several minutes in this scene — a theatrical pause that felt deliberately orchestrated in order to gather the anticipation of the crowd. When the beat dropped and the lights transformed to red and royal blue, she ascended, shining with confidence in her gold bodysuit during the show’s opening number, “Training Season.”

Moving into “End of an Era,” her dancers created a living tableau, concealing her between large arrays of white feathers. When she emerged in front of a backdrop of dusky pink and orange clouds, she seemed like a goddess suspended in the clouds as she sang apt lyrics — “In the clouds, there she goes, butterflies let them flow.”

Lipa’s songs featured a large variety of backdrops and energies, but many felt club-like, with strobe lights, synchronized backup dancers, and a pulsing beat. Confetti cascaded repeatedly throughout the show, and the lights frequently cycled through palettes, from pastels to primaries to neons. The changes were visually engaging but thematically disparate, capturing the audience’s attention but failing to weave a cohesive narrative thread.

The most impactful moments of the show were unquestionably the ones that were more stripped down and intimate rather than pulsating and hyped up. The “hard goodbyes and vulnerable beginnings” which distinguish “Radical Optimism” from Lipa’s other albums — notably 2020’s disco and dance-pop album “Future Nostalgia” — achieve greater emotional resonance when in this setup. After “Levitating,” the stage was reset, repositioning Lipa and her band out on the circle at the end of the stage’s runway. Following the introduction of the band, Lipa’s rendition of “These Walls,” an indie pop, soft rock song about the emotional distance of a dying relationship, showcased her vocal ability — as well as that of her backup singers — while the bass and guitar lines in “Maria” became a high point of the musical relationship between Lipa and her band.

Lipa paused to talk about Boston, thanking the city for welcoming her across not one but two nights. At each stop on the tour, she performs a song from the city, and for Boston, she sang Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” While she expressed her anxiety about the song — incorporating a new cover in each performance presents a daunting challenge — the power ballad proved an incredible fit for her voice and had everyone waving their flashlights throughout the stands of the Garden.

Despite the sparkly outfits, over-the-top lighting, and pop-star persona, Lipa continuously revealed her humanity throughout the night in ways that made her pop-stardom feel less superficial. She paused to talk to and take videos with many fans during set changes; several of the fans she encountered had traveled from different countries to see her. A minor costume malfunction during “Levitating” caused her to briefly stop singing, but it was a refreshing reminder that she existed not as an untouchable icon, but rather as an actual performer singing and dancing in the moment.

The last two songs before the encore — “Anything For Love” and “Be the One” — represented moments when Lipa’s over-the-top set was engaging, as she donned a white robe and ascended on a floating platform from which she commanded the crowd’s attention, raising her arms for cheers across the stadium. Particularly during “Be the One” — which she had been performing on tour for several years — her visible emotion revealed how much she loved being before the crowd and singing her heart out.

Her encore outshone even this stunt, cycling through “New Rules,” “Dance the Night,” “Don’t Start Now,” and “Houdini” in quick succession. Though “Houdini” — one of Lipa’s most popular songs at the moment — didn’t provide a thematically satisfying end to the concert, any artist capable of delivering a set with as many chart-toppers as Lipa’s discography is fixed for a finale that can be enjoyed by all.

Overall, the concert was a night to remember. Lipa stands apart as a singer, a performer, and a master of crowd dynamics — yet, the night fell short of an album-themed experience and relied more on her previous successful singles to tie it all together.

—Staff writer Hannah M. Wilkoff can be reached at hannah.wilkoff@thecrimson.com.