September 11, 2010

• Lady Gaga @ Staples Center – Thursday, August 12, 2010 

  

  Guess who was front row?   For those of you that waited… you’re in for a treat!  (For those of you that are Lady Gaga haters, you can skip today’s entry.) Now you can see why I was dragging in making the post… there are over 50 pictures in this one!  Seriously, I had the best spot in the building, front row, center, in front of the stage where the catwalk starts.  I couldn’t have gotten any closer.  

  Sidenote:  If you are thinking about going and someone tries to sell you VIP tickets, talk to me before buying them.  VIP packs are invalid unless the original buyer enters with you.  Otherwise, it’s just a regular ticket.  You get to go to the show, but you don’t get any of the package benefits (either gift bag or non-alcoholic drinks and snacks beforehand).  It’s a scam put on by the promoters, but that’s a long story.  As a fan, I think it’s wrong for them to upsell the same ticket for $100-200 more and then not honor the package even though your ticket clearly says VIP on it.  You already collected the big boy money, it doesn’t matter if me or you are holding the ticket.  The extra benefits have already been paid for. 

  I wanted to take more pics of the dressed up fans, but we had to go in early.  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Lady Starlight opened.  She dj’s and dances to 80s rock songs for an hour, busting out 1980s hair band moves.  She was great…  I don’t know how she does it… dance sync for 45 minutes plus, because she doesn’t sing while she’s up there.  I know I couldn’t. 

  

  Then Semi Precious Weapons came before Gaga, as they always do. 

  

  Lead singer Justin Tranter has good stage presence, but I just don’t enjoy their music.  He’s androgynous, trying to channel David Bowie, but playing a harder brand of rock/glam rock.  When I saw Gaga in December, I walked out of the opener and spent time in the foyer people watching.  This time I had to endure Semi-Precious Weapons song set because I was stuck in my prime pit spot. 

  Both Lady Starlight and Semi-Precious Weapons are long time friends of Lady Gaga so I guess we’re stuck with them (I’m referring to Semi-Precious Weapons) for all of her future shows. 

  Thanks to the security guy, I got a picture of the setlist. 

  

  Damn, there were frickin’ queens all around me.  The two peacocks in the picture above ended up standing by us and they were really cool.  But there was this one Indian/Paki f*g that was being a real bitch.  My friend had a spot on the rail next to him and he kept on trying to stretch himself out and pushed her off the rail and tried to tell the security guy that she was pushing him.  DUDE WAS 45 YEARS OLD… GROW UP!!!  

  He kept on telling this girl that he just met that he’s always really busy and that has houses in a few cities and that he’s been to Gaga shows in different cities.   If you’re a 45 year old busy and successful man, why are you spending your life following around Lady Gaga city to city by yourself?  He was totally bs’ing because he asked a general question about one of her songs, a question that anyone who had seen her show before would know.  That guy was the biggest ass that I’ve ever seen at a concert.  He wasn’t even drunk.  He was just a bitch. 

  The 40 year-old lady that he just met came dressed in a corset set.  Her corset was stuff with red tissue to match the padding because her boobs were too flat.  At one point she started telling Indian/Paki and another guy about how she’s married, but she was once in a threesome with two other guys, but she didn’t have sex with them.  She just kissed them and watched, so it didn’t count as cheating.   We tried to tune it out but couldn’t because of her booming man voice.  She was so ugly at first I thought she was a crossdresser but she was just a scary middle-aged woman with no boobs and fishnets on. 

  At 9:00 on the dot, Lady Gaga saved us by coming on stage. 

  

  

  WOW!  Lady Gaga must have had about 15 costume changes.  Some of them were drapy or cape-y (see above), but still, it counts. 

  The nun outfit with pasties is hot!  It’s not because she’s wearing pasties, I just think the outfit itself is rad.   

  

  

  

  The Disco Stick!

  

  Look… the guys are all wearing hard athletic cups!  In case you went to the concert and from your seat you thought her dancers must all be packin’, they might be… or they might not. 

  

  Lady Gaga’s Keytar   

  

  

  The Flaming Piano

  

  Installation of the Living Dress 

  

  The tube came down from the ceiling, they installed the dress while a music video ran on the outside of the metallic looking tube (in the picture above, the dress is uninstalled, they are just holding the train), then she revealed, like a butterfly that’s gone through metamorphosis, bursting out of it’s cocoon. 

  The dress is called the Living Dress because it’s fully mechanized!  The wings come up and the clear plastic straw like material on the head, shoulders, and back spread themselves out. 

  

  

  Someone tell me what that is.  Has she gone fungal?  Is she a mushroom?  Like a circumcision, the mushroom top came off and then she was left with this bloody outfit.  So much strategically placed hair! 

  

  I know she’s wearing five inch heels, but still, she’s got some booty, much more than I would’ve thought.   My friend told me she doesn’t feel bad about her body… she noticed that even Lady Gaga has some cellulite.  I’m sure she does, but I didn’t notice any.  Then again, I wasn’t looking that closely.  I swear!    

  

  

  

  I always laugh when I see these next three pictures.  I didn’t get the point of this, how it tied to the story line.  Then I thought of all the parents that took their little girls to the show to see Lady Gaga perform. 

  

  

  

  

  Gaga originally wanted heaters/straight flames coming out of her tin can turbo t*ts but her tour operator complained of the insurance liability of having a hard flame set up so they went with the sparklers instead. 

  

  This is one of my favorite pics, the Little Monsters sign.  Her shoes rock!  What do you think they are made of?  They were shiny metallic, just like her top.  Some sort of foil?  Real metal?  Coated plastic? 

  

  

  

  

  During the whole concert, I felt and knew that I was witnessing something special.  I wasn’t watching an artist in their prime, I was watching an artist who still had yet to reach her peak.  I wondered if I was crazy for saying that, but then I read that in a couple of other show reviews too, that those critics also felt that same we haven’t even see her best yet feeling.  I’ve seen Janet Jackson and Madonna on tour and Gaga’s costumes are way better (to be fair, I never saw Cher perform).   There are only a few times in our lives that we’ll be able to catch artists on fire like this.  She really is next level… and she hasn’t even gotten to the next, next level.   

  The set was well lit and elaborate.  There was a vague story line that was about as understandable as the storyline for a Cirque du Soleil show (not very), which was perfectly fine, because I wasn’t expecting Broadway.  The dancing was good, but there weren’t any show stopping moves.  

  The show could’ve flowed smoother, but with that many costume changes there have to be a few lulls.  One thing she does do is talk a lot with the audience.  If you’re not into her “be yourself/I love you/I love gays/I perform because of you” beliefs, then there will be times that you wish she’d just sing and not talk.  But hey, it’s her show and she has the right to do whatever she wants up there.  It’s like sex… sometimes there’s too much talking and not enough sexing, but no matter what, it still takes both of you to have a show.  Hey, that’s what you pay me for right?  Great analogies.  =) 

  If you didn’t know it before the show, you would after it.  Girl has got a voice.  A damn good voice!  She does lip sync to some of the dance numbers, but on the slower songs, she lets the horns blow.  When she’s sitting at the piano, you can hear her voice that digs deep and bellows out from within.  It’s rich and has soul.  She’s not just pop like Katy Perry, Madonna or Britney.  Voicewise, she’s more like bazooka blaster Christina Aguilera.  Did I mention Gaga also plays the keytar, string bass, and piano?   

  Whether her whole persona/schtick is real or fake, it doesn’t matter to me, she’s genius. 

  

  I don’t say this lightly… This was one of the best shows that I’ve ever seen.  If you like pop or dance, you have to go!  She tours again in the first half of 2011.   Catch her then!  

  Lady Gaga… do you love her or hate her?  Have you seen her live?  What did you think? 

  • 3:00 pm
  • 4 Comments