Lady Gaga: Welcome to the Monster Ball

November 30th, 2009

gaga1

Eccentric, outrageous, scandalous, entertainer.

Unoriginal? Definitely not.

Lady Gaga hit up a few Canadian cities this past weekend, welcoming fans to her first arena-wide tour in support of her new album, The Fame: Monster. Saturday night she was in Toronto at the Air Canada Center for the second date of the tour, along with guests Semi Precious Weapons and Kid Cudi *squeal* as opening acts.

Before I say anything about the show, I have to give a shout out to all of the Gagamaniacs who dressed up as the songstress: there were some very awesome costumes out there, with all the replica sunglasses, hairdos, and outfits, and was perhaps the best indication of her impact on pop culture today.

Semi Precious Weapons was definitely an appropriate opening act for Gaga with their flamboyant personalities and brightly coloured outfits. The lead singer even changed outfits on stage, mooning the crowd with no shame and constantly telling us to shush after asking us to scream louder. FIERCE, is all I have to say.

A huge highlight of my life (yes, my life) was Kid Cudi’s set. For those who don’t know me, I am certified Cudi obsessed and love anything he attaches himself to, whether solo or collaborative work. Granted, Cudi still has a bit of a way to go before he’ll be able to rock a crowd as large as the one at the ACC, but the amount of passion and energy presented during his fourty minute set demonstrated the new artist’s potential to do so. No matter, I enjoyed his time on the stage as I screamed his lyrics, immersing myself into the futuristic sounds of “Alive”, “Cudi Zone”, and “Up, Up, and Away”. The biggest reaction received was during his medley of the David Guetta track that he’s featured on, “Memories”, and his breakout hit, “Day n’ Night”, before ending with his next single, “Pursuit of Happiness”. Cudi left the ACC later on to attend to his fans at Kool Haus where he performed a solo show. Drake also made an appearance there (friends who attended this show, I want to hear from you!).

Yeah, I’m kind of in love with him.

A little after 10pm, Lady Gaga hit the stage, opening with “Dance in the Dark”, performing behind a digital grid and commanding all eyes on her as she jumped into “Just Dance” and “Lovegame”, making for an excellent start to the show.

Haus of Gaga, the creative force behind everything that was the show, really outdid themselves in terms of outfitting Gaga and her elaborate stage. Giant video screens covered a great deal of the stage and were used to play a series of intermediary videos as Gaga changed outfit to outfit, which occurred several times (the videos were quite chic and Vogue – I felt like there were several Blue Steel moments during them). I really enjoyed the gold Egyptian-inspired mask and the high-waisted pants and high-shouldered blazer ensemble, black and white sparkly leotards and fishnet stockings, amongst others.

Though her high-energy choreographed performances of tracks such as “Fame”, “Alejandro”, and “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich” were well received, it was her time when she invited us into the “Monster” aspects of fame where the audience connected with her the most. Tears poured down her face as she discussed her father’s illness earlier this month before launching into “Speechless”, a song off the new album inspired by this hard time (and what I think is the most raw Gaga track out there). The most encouraging words shared were when she commented on her fans, saying “I don’t care if my fans love me. I only care if my fans love themselves.” Aww, Gaga.

As she impressed us with her piano playing skill (even hovering over the instrument as she stood on one leg on the piano bench), Gaga broke out into a slower version of “Pokerface”. At this time, Kid Cudi came back to the stage to perform “Make Her Say” while Gaga sang the base track live. Dream come true, much!?

There is no doubt that Lady Gaga is a performer in her own right. She danced provocatively and spoke candidly with the audience, often mentioning her love for Canadian crowds, winking at us teasingly and smoking cigarettes on stage casually. Cute, I say, but these mannerisms only took her so far. Where she succeeds in personality, she sometimes lacks in performance – I didn’t find that there were those “OH MAI GOSHHH” moments that she’s famous for during the show, and for that, I was a little disappointed. She did, however, end the show off with a fantastic encore of “Paparazzi”, “Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)”, and her most recent #1 hit, “Bad Romance”, which was easily the most energized performance of the night.

I’m going to give this show 4 out of 5 disco sticks. Those who attended the Montreal/Toronto/Ottawa shows -how Gagazzled were you!?

Tags: concert reviews, concerts, correspondents, Kid Cudi, lady gaga, reviews