TV Review: Lady Gaga presents The Monsters Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden

 

I admit it... I am one of Lady Gaga's Little Monsters. Oh I don't walk around with stuffed animals taped to my forehead or blood dripping from my chest, but I can relate to feeling like an outsider. An oddball. Someone who feels like they are often forced into a life of conformity when I sometimes just want to let my freak flag fly! 

Lady Gaga has tapped into these feelings of repressed artistic fulfillment and made a fortune out of it. With her HBO "Monsters Ball" special it is obvious she is a master of stage-craft and audience immersion. She tells everyone in the crowd that someday "they will be the bitch up on stage", although the likelihood of that is slim to none. I doubt there is ever another Lady Gaga.

Everyone is made to feel a part of the show here as Gaga and her friends go on an abstract and Oz-like trip down The Glitter Way to the Monster's Ball through song, costume, and even giant tentacled Fame-Monster puppet. She shines a spotlight, in the form of a disco stick, at her adoring public at one point. She makes a habit of complimenting audience members on their fashion choices which are quaint in the face of what Miss Gaga wears during this show. Even celebrity guests Liza Minnelli and Marisa Tomei get a shout out! Everyone with a (very expensive) seat in Madison Square Garden is a little monster she makes clear from early on. This is their night to shine!

What a night it is! A high-energy show with enough dancing, quirky props, and hit after hit to keep you hooked. Even the lesser know Gaga songs don't disappoint. There is so much to see your brain has a hard time taking it all in. From her "Black Angel" harp player to her fountain of blood to her hunky guitar player who is billed as "Jesus Christ". The Religious symbolism aside, she dances up a storm and somehow makes this circus of freaks come together and form an entertaining spectacle.

Gaga's dancers have always intrigued me. Not overtly attractive or ugly. More "sinister" looking if I had to pick a word. All with bodies chiseled from stone of course. Seeing how they are in constant motion for one hour and forty-five minutes a night its not hard to see why they all have abs to die for. Their costumes are either simple colors or rags. All to enhance whatever Gaga has on at the moment no doubt.

The first real "anthem" (of which there are many) of the night is still my #1 favorite. "Just Dance" is performed using a synthesizer that appears out of the smoking hood of a post-apocalyptic turbo-car.

Gaga doesn't want to have her paying fans have to listen to "some bitch" lip-synching at one of her shows and she does an impressive job of staying in tune and never very out of breath. I'm not sure how she pulls it off to be honest. I'd be sucking wind just from the rapid-fire costume changes, which the HBO cameras catch glimpses of between performances.

The headpiece to this one opens and closes like a Peacocks feathers

Some of the best moments of this show are Gaga speaking to the crowd. Foul-mouthed and shocking  but also loving and accepting all at once. She comments that the only thing better than a unicorn is a gay unicorn for instance. She tells all the young ones in the crowd they can be whatever they want to be. She says she feels like Tinker Bell and needs everyone to SCREAM to keep her alive. Gaga seems at home on the stage speaking and singing. In a contrasting moment we get to see an interview where she tearfully describes still feeling like a freak herself sometimes. It is obvious the (somewhat over-dramatic) feeling passes quickly! Coming on stage dressed as a nun in a see-through Tupperware dress probably FORCES you to throw all your inhibitions out the window.



Overall I would recommend this show to anyone who is even a casual Gaga fan. Besides a sappy piano balled in the middle and an overuse of the New York City aspect (we get it! As if New Yorkers and The Garden need any more validation that they are "special") I thoroughly enjoyed the show. I SO wanted to go see Monster's Ball when it was in the area but tickets were outrageous! As much as Gaga claims she hates money, which she does many times here, she sure is raking it in. It's not hard to see why.