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Lady Gaga - O2 Arena (17/12/10) |
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Saturday, 22 January 2011 |
Genuinely excited to see for myself what in the world this Lady can do to live up to such enormous expectations I wait nervously with 20,000 'little monsters' eager for a taste of the Gaga.
In the build up to the new queen of pop you can tell that Lady Gaga wants to make a direct association with Michael Jackson. Bombarded with the late singer’s back catalogue for 30 minutes before curtains wasn't the worst thing that could happen, but it wasn't the best either. Still it hammers home the point that Gaga is set to take her place alongside Jacko in the history books of pop as one of the greatest icons of this generation, perhaps as the greatest icon ever. And that the last ever 'Monsters Ball' date in London is set to be a 'Thriller'.
Having sold over 13 million albums and enjoying countless hit singles in such a short amount of time, she certainly is a pop star whose reputation precedes her everywhere she goes, especially onto the stage.
The curtains drop.
A 30 foot Gaga greets the O2 Arena to thunder and lightning. This star is huge and she has no hesitation in reminding us. She breaks into her electro-fused pop that has made her the household name she is. Thrusting through 'Beautiful, Dirty, Rich', a song that has somewhat fallen by the wayside, but is one of her better tracks. Moments when the pace was slowed and Gaga spoke with the audience you felt like you took a little piece of her away with you and she seemed so vulnerable and troubled that you couldn't help but warm to her charm.
Contrast this with stomping hit after stomping hit including the likes of ‘Just Dance’, ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Telephone’ and the live show is sensational. The show splices her songs in between a bizarre narrative that seemed more akin with 'We Will Rock You'. I think anyway. The strange, the disgusting and sick are all embraced lovingly in the hour and a half performance and as a result everything was fairly hard to follow.
What I could get from the 'plot' was that Gaga herself had lost her way in London (not that tricky with the state of the dismal O2 transport system) and was seeking 'The Monsters Ball'.
Intertwined in this tale were messages of uniqueness and imperfections being the ultimate perfection with the weird and the ugly to be embraced. In theory this is a great message to send to her self titled 'little monsters', but contrast this with giant scenes of bulimia references and Gaga herself explaining that she "doesn't eat because [she's] a pop star" it all comes across as a bit hypocritical.
But it doesn't really matter. It's the Gaga we have come to love. Controversial, crazy and calculated. Anything she says is gospel and I can see why. Her stage show is out of this world and she is most definitely here to stay. If the sneak peak into her next album is anything to go by, she's gone in a different direction musically. Rock ballads may well be on the agenda when her next album drops in February. She is constantly reinventing herself and it she gets it right every time. Producing one of the best pop concerts I've ever seen, the atmosphere, the talent, the creativity was all quite literally overwhelming, she is what pop needs.
The king of rock is dead, and for the moment, the saviour of pop has left the building. By what I saw in the O2 on Friday, she is the essence of this generation and deserves the almighty platform she has. Long live Lady Gaga. |
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