Before I start, I feel like this post should come with a disclaimer: I used to have no interest whatsoever in Lady Gaga. Actually, I was massively prejudiced against something that to me looked like a crime against music… And then I got curious and watched a few videos, stumbled upon photographs of the Gagster and decided that someone who goes out with a lobster on her head can’t be completely bad.
Her singles are obviously super catchy and before I had the time to say “camp”, I found myself recreating the Bad Romance choreography in my living room and quoting Gaga fairly liberally in my emails. The bitch sure knows how to get you hooked.
To cut a long story short, by the time Best Buy offered to take BitchBuzz to see her Monster Ball at the O2, I was a complete closet convert.
Seeing her on stage confirmed what I thought: she is a stage monster, one of those big gig machines that I can only compare to Madonna. Of course, her dancing is nothing compared to the one and only Madame Ciccone, but her singing is pretty awesome.
Her performance brought me back to my childhood, when my mum would take me to see Chantal Goya perform. I know. Wait. There is a real narrative to her show, which turns what could have been a massive Euro Party Dance Dance into a whimsical musical, complete with amazing costumes and choreographies.
Going to see Lady Gaga, I was expecting to be quite taken with the outfits - especially the latex pieces from Atsuko Kudo. She didn’t disappoint and showcased a wide array of latex hot pants, studded latex bras and all the crazy heels you can dream of. The best of the best was her motorised feather dress complete with flapping wings (or at least that’s what it looked like from where I was sitting). No surprise there though, since the Lady likes to associate herself with extreme fashion talents such as Nicolas Formichetti or Alexander McQueen (RIP).
Her voice was what surprised me the most. I am not used to pop stars being able to carry a note, let alone dance their ass off while still sounding absolutely brilliant. Gaga’s tiny frame doesn’t exactly scream big voice either, yet she delivers, song after song. Her repertoire goes from ballads to dance numbers and even if I was getting a bit bored during the more emotional bits, she still put on one heck of a show.
The show wasn’t only on stage though, as all of her devoted fans were in attendance, wearing their best Gaga inspired outfits and responding to her various speeches with extreme enthusiasm. She wants to federate the freaks and geeks, the rejects and monsters, and even if her fans are generally pretty cute, it looks like her message is coming across and no matter how cheesy and cliché it is, I am totally buying it.