Lady Gaga
Rod Laver Arena
March 23, 2010
A black and white image of a woman with ice-blonde hair flashes onto a white screen curtaining the stage in Melbourne’s Rod Laver arena. The crowd squeals as a bass-heavy dance beat thumps and tickles toes.
Moments before, frustrated concert-goers had been tossing empty drink cups onto the stage. It had seemed as if the object of tonight’s show, Lady Gaga, would never appear and that we had instead packed the stadium to listen to Michael Jackson songs and the much earlier support act, Semi-Precious Weapons. The punk divas did provide some good entertainment as they repeatedly expressed their hope that mostly under-15-year-old audience get laid. So awkward.
But Gaga’s here now – in video form, anyway.
She’s a performer who truly has shot to stardom. The first two singles from her 2008 debut album The Fame hit number one in the charts, and the album picked up two Grammys and another four nominations.
Two years on, and with her creative team the Haus of Gaga working hard to cultivate her distinctive image, the Lady has attracted an almost cult-like following of “little monsters” around the world as she takes her second studio album, 2009’s The Fame Monster, on tour.
Tonight, everyone has paid some small homage to their idol with their outfits, whether it be by painting lightning bolts onto their faces, twisting their hair around Coke cans, or simply leaving their pants at home. The only cigarettes seen in this non-smoking venue are the ones diligently glued to a fan’s glasses.
But the self-aware preening of pre-teens is forgotten when a silhouette of the flesh and blood Gaga is presented to the crowd on the screen.
Her avant garde costumes – designed by the likes of Giorgio Armani – make sense in this stadium setting, helpfully magnifying her average-size frame with pizza-box-sized shoulder pads, towering headpieces and various other caped and fringed structures designed to emphasize shoulders and hips.
However, while it’s great to see Gaga’s famous “living dress” – which unfurls like a flower around her – in the flesh, it’s a little disappointing that everything worn tonight had been photographed on her before.
What is surprising is the quality of the singer’s voice. As she sits down at a piano to sing ‘Brown Eyes’ it’s obvious that there’s more to the 23-year-old than her image. There is no lip-synching, her voice is strong and unfaltering, despite the dance moves and burdensome costumes.
The Monster’s Ball tour includes all the singer’s numerous hits played out through a story (she’s trying to get to the ball). She’s also joined on her journey by some party-seeking friends – support singers in thigh skimming sequined dresses – and a number of bare-chested male dancers who appear to agree with her belief that pants are superfluous.
Throughout the show Gaga delights the crowd with lavish praise, saying “no other pop-star will ever love you as much as me,” and singling out a few fanatics for one-on-one attention.
Her final two songs, ‘Paparrazi’ and ‘Bad Romance’, are performed to a jumping, singing crowd, mothers and daughters, friends and strangers alike.
Addressing the crowd earlier in the night Ms Gaga had apologized for the lack of alcohol at the all-ages event. “We’ll just have to get high on the music instead,” she’d cooed, and judging by the sweat-shiny faces leaving the stadium at the end of the night, they’d done just that.
