Just like Farrokh Bulsara and Paul Hewson before her, it’s hard to imagine who Stefani Germanotta would have been today had her alter ego remained a voice inside her head and not the more prominent aspect of her being. Tonight, on the first of three sold out shows at the O2, Lady Gaga – “Mother Monster” to many of the “Little Monsters” in the crowd – has evidently become a more dictatorial figure rather than a maternal one and, while her demands are generally backed by positivity, they are delivered as orders rather than choices. “LONDON!” She squawks during the cool, robotic opener ‘ARTPOP’ – resembling an amalgamation of Tony Soprano and Rocky Horror’s Riff-Raff in the wardrobe of Dame Edna, “RAVE, RAVE, RAVE!”
This is Gaga’s ArtRave following last year’s ARTPOP album, which is neither a rave, nor an ART installation, nor a typical POP concert, but does convincingly combine all three. ‘ARTPOP’ is bravely followed by four further, psychotically synthesized deep cuts from the album of the same name, including the self-produced sort-of single ‘Venus’, which, like a B-52’s number, is both bonkers and brilliant (“Uranus… Don’t you know my ass is famous”) in equal measure, and accompanied by a bouffant. Despite suggesting that those who have come to hear the hits can “grab a beer, get a glow stick and GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”, ‘Just Dance’ (featuring a seahorse shaped keytar… a seakeytar, if you will) is followed by ‘Poker Face’, a voicemail sized ‘Telephone’, ‘Paparazzi’ and an R. Kelly-less ‘Do What You Want’.
(There’s a strange moment where I randomly think of Whitney Houston’s disastrous comeback tour before Gaga sings the line ‘I Will Always Love You’ as good as it’s ever been sung by anyone. I’m not quite sure how she managed to evoke that thought before singing. There are less strange moments during the set where you suddenly remember that behind the ArtRave there is one of the most powerful and versatile vocalists currently recording.)
For many, the tell-tale sign of a successful arena show is how often the seats are used, and during the two hour set they are only unfolded when Gaga takes herself to a keyboard (which either resembles an evil villain’s ice lair or the Dancing On Ice studio). ARTPOP album track ‘Dope’ is dedicated to “those struggling with drugs and alcohol, and for those not struggling but still enjoying them” before a fan letter fired from the crowd is read out, with the “Monster” invited to take to the stage and sit beside their “Mother” for a piano-only version of ‘Born This Way’. While the cynic is quick to see this as a swamp of stilton, the message is both blindingly obvious and evidently ignored by some; whether encouraging acceptance, tolerance or even talents (“You do not need a manager or an agent to be an artist, you just need a CANVAS AND FUCKING PAINTBRUSH!”), to disagree would automatically validate the need for artists like her. (Whether she realises it or not, the way she delivers these outbursts are also literaLOL funny.)
A mix of new tracks (including the obligatory sore thumb from recent Tony Bennett duet album, Cheek To Cheek, which sees an ongoing transformation into ‘…Turn Back Time’ era Cher reach its peak) and the remainder of those previously denied hits bring the set to a close, however by this point in the rave it is perhaps presumed that most won’t be aware of their surroundings, which might explain the uninspired order. ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Applause’ is wrongly followed by album track ‘Swine’ to close the show (after a lower deck Titanic-like clamber to get those fans who slept outside Gaga’s hotel onto the stage… Sure…), with a confusing encore related question (what else is there to play?) unanswered by the reappearance of Gaga – following the disappearance of a notable chunk of the crowd – for ‘Gypsy’.
While she had the people in the palm of her hand for the vast majority of her time, it was a bad decision, rather than ‘Bad Romance’, that ended the party. With three albums worth of material to choose from, ending a set with a new song (and not even a single!) was a miss rather than a hit… Those beer drinking, glow stick wavers who got the fuck out of there could probably have told her that.
Dan Bull
@danbull7609
Dan Bull
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