ANOMALY //>

So happy i could die...Lady Gaga

The Monster Ball Tour 2010

Sydney Entertainment Centre

4/5

The crowd: A good mix of all ages and different people. The gays were plentiful, but so were families and kids. They were also very enthusiastic. I saw Gaga for the first time live 2 years ago in a tiny club on Oxford St in Sydney. The entire place was packed out, but she had JUST launched with her debut single 'Just Dance', so i wasn't expecting a major crowd filler, i was wrong. There were people pouring out of the doors, fans already dressed up in costumes, and people going nuts to see her on stage. At her new Arena show, it was the exact same atmosphere, except this time, there were THOUSANDS of fans, instead of hundreds. It was great to see how big she's gotten in such a short period of time, and the rabid loyalty and appreciation the fans showed her was really great to see.

The only downside to my "crowd" experience, was having a bunch of loud mouthed toothless red necks sitting behind us the entire show. They kept quiet while Gaga was on stage, but during the opening act [which was very....overtly gay and sexual, lol] they kept yelling and screaming at how vile the whole thing was. Honestly, what ARE rednecks DOING at a Gaga show? did they not expect to see poofery????? go the fuck home.

Opening act: Semi Precious Weapons opened the show. I've only heard of these guys by name, and Gaga used to open for them YEARS ago when she was a teenager performing in clubs for the first time. The band itself was full of flamboyant members, with the main singer wearing no pants, stocking and heels, which at one point he REMOVED on stage to change into some new clothes. They were pretty entertaining to watch, and the music itself actually wasn't too bad. They sang thrashy style rock, i'll definitely check out their album.

The show: The lights dimmed and the crowd went absolutely mental as a screen was lowered over the stage and black and white footage of Gaga jumping in slow motion was shown. A heavy dance beat played over the footage, and it was obvious this was going to be a pretty loud opener. As the synths to Dance In The Dark kicked in, everyone lost their minds. Gaga appeared on top of a stair case behind the screen [which was semi transparent] and all you could see was her silhoutte as she sang the song, it was an AMAZING opener which set the mood for the rest of the night.

As soon as the first song was finished, we got kicked into the first few bunch of performances. She sang a brand new song called Glitter and Grease, which i loved [can't wait to hear a studio version], when Just Dance came on the crowd lost their minds as they danced around, everyone was standing. Beautiful Dirty Rich followed, then The Fame and to finish it up, she sang a random internet leaked song from 2 years ago called, Vanity. Don't know why it was included, but i liked the performance.

Another video interlude was played before the next segment, Gaga posing for a photoshoot while a woman vomited green spew on her. It ended with Gaga eating a bloody raw heart. The interludes in general were pretty cool throughout the show. LoveGame was the opener for the second act, another track everyone really got into. Boys Boys Boys was dedicated to "her gay boys", Money Honey followed, and then Telephone was blasted into the crowd. The choreography for Telephone was GREAT, i still wish it was show cased better in the music video.

The atmosphere was taken down a notch when Gaga sat at her piano and sang Brown Eyes and Speechless. Although the songs were slow, i was surprised to see how much everyone got into them. Although it's hard not to when Gaga is singing the shit out of the tracks while thrashing at her piano. Her voice is FANTASTIC live, so strong. The highlight from that section was when she stopped singing the chorus to Speechless, and let the crowd sing it to her while she played the piano, the entire Arena sang it perfectly in sync, it was a great moment to let fans really connect with her. She loved it.

As a tornado descended onto the stage, Gaga returned wearing her wacky 'Living Dress', which looked like some sort of angelic fairy robotronic outfit. It moved, opening and closing as she was lifted into the air and sang So Happy I Could Die. One of my favourite performances from the night. She looked amazing on stage wearing that.

As the show entered it's last act, Gaga churned out Monster [another highlight], Teeth [hot dancing], Alejandro [nicely set up, but a bit of a let down], and Poker Face [crowd went mental over it, obviously].

Before Gaga left the stage, she came out for 2 more song. Paparazzi, which was the most memorable performance of the night, with a GIANT monster puppet appearing on stage as she sang the song. I've only seen one picture of the monster, so i wasn't sure how it would look in motion. It looked REALLY cool. I loved it. The final song of the night, Bad Romance, was a bit of a let down, mostly because Gaga wore a metallic dress which seemed to really limit her movement, so she wasn't able to really give it her all for the finale. Still, the crowd loved it and the song itself is great. For me though, Paparazzi seemed to be the proper goodbye.

Overall: A really fun concert with a lot of love in the room. The first half of the show was a little stronger than the second half, but as a whole product it was nicely put together and very ambitious.

Gaga is a strong live act, her voice is great, her outfits are hilarious and the amount of buzz and excitement she was able to bring to the audience was impressive. She's described as a phenomenon, and last night, i finally saw her booming career in action. After only 2 years, to pull off the concert she put on last night and to have such adoring fans after such a small period of time, is really mind boggling to see. Behind all the costumes and wigs is an incredibly talented girl, who seems to live and breathe everything she does on stage. I'm proud to be a fan, she's the real deal. She's just a baby in the industry, but after seeing her last night, it's obvious she can stand her own ground with her established peers who've been around for 10-20 years.

I look forward to seeing her again.

PS: Can't remember which song it was for, but at one point she opened a track while playing on her GIANT guitar keyboard. It was fucking badass.