Lady Gaga: Born This Way tour, Helsinki, review - Ahead of her UK dates, Neil McCormick reviews Lady Gaga's Born This Way tour in Helsinki.
Lady Gaga's new production (which arrives in the UK next week) is quite spectacular ... and quite spectacularly bonkers. There are almost as many costume changes as there are songs, each requiring her to make a new entrance on her Gothic castle set, some more effective than others. Riding a live horse tarted up like a unicorn proves a curiously flat opening, because she has to concentrate more on controlling the beast than singing Highway Unicorn. This big opening is further hampered by the star wearing a full face helmet, so that actually it could be anyone on stage. Only Gaga, however, would give birth to herself from a huge inflatable zip up vagina singing Born This Way.
American pop singer Lady Gaga onstage during her Born This Way tour
There were things in this show I never thought I'd see on stage (and some I rather wish I hadn't). Gaga rolling around as a human motorbike singing Heavy Metal Lover is audaciously brilliant but I am still trying to wipe the image from my mind of the singer dressed up like an alien hooker having a sexual act performed upon her by a dancer, whom she then murders. And then there's the sight of Gaga in a meat dress being fed into a giant grinder during Poker Face.
There is a sci-fi story structure intended to hold all of this together but it remains utterly incomprehensible despite narrative exposition from a disembodied head that looks a little like Gaga crossed with Kryton from Red Dwarf. It even gets to sing a song during one of the many interludes for costume changes. And (as I may have mentioned) there are a lot of costumes, some so elaborate and restrictive they effectively impede the performance. The exhilarating pop bounce of Just Dance is thrown away because the singer is wearing a dress in which it is impossible to move. Even with a pop star as extravagant as Gaga, sometimes you really just want her to deliver the song.
Lady Gaga occupies pole position as the 21st centuries ultimate pop star. She's got Madonna's instinct for controversy, Bowie's high concept showmanship and the musical chutzpah of a young Elton John. But she's also developing a worrying need to overcomplicate everything.
When did it become a rule that modern pop shows have to have more dancers than musicians?
Her five piece band make way more music than they could possibly be producing themselves, there are no backing vocalists and she basically sings along with her own pre-recorded vocals, which just seems such a waste of a fantastic voice. The real highlight of the show is when she drops the big production, chats engagingly with her fans and sings songs solo at her piano (admittedly an instrument fashioned from a motorbike). That's where you see and hear what an undeniable talent she is.
Gaga likes to think of herself as a pop artist, but a little more music and a little less art might make this the perfect pop extravaganza. ( telegraph.co.uk )
Blog : Good As New
Post : Lady Gaga: Born This Way tour, Helsinki, review
Lady Gaga's new production (which arrives in the UK next week) is quite spectacular ... and quite spectacularly bonkers. There are almost as many costume changes as there are songs, each requiring her to make a new entrance on her Gothic castle set, some more effective than others. Riding a live horse tarted up like a unicorn proves a curiously flat opening, because she has to concentrate more on controlling the beast than singing Highway Unicorn. This big opening is further hampered by the star wearing a full face helmet, so that actually it could be anyone on stage. Only Gaga, however, would give birth to herself from a huge inflatable zip up vagina singing Born This Way.
American pop singer Lady Gaga onstage during her Born This Way tour
There were things in this show I never thought I'd see on stage (and some I rather wish I hadn't). Gaga rolling around as a human motorbike singing Heavy Metal Lover is audaciously brilliant but I am still trying to wipe the image from my mind of the singer dressed up like an alien hooker having a sexual act performed upon her by a dancer, whom she then murders. And then there's the sight of Gaga in a meat dress being fed into a giant grinder during Poker Face.
There is a sci-fi story structure intended to hold all of this together but it remains utterly incomprehensible despite narrative exposition from a disembodied head that looks a little like Gaga crossed with Kryton from Red Dwarf. It even gets to sing a song during one of the many interludes for costume changes. And (as I may have mentioned) there are a lot of costumes, some so elaborate and restrictive they effectively impede the performance. The exhilarating pop bounce of Just Dance is thrown away because the singer is wearing a dress in which it is impossible to move. Even with a pop star as extravagant as Gaga, sometimes you really just want her to deliver the song.
Lady Gaga occupies pole position as the 21st centuries ultimate pop star. She's got Madonna's instinct for controversy, Bowie's high concept showmanship and the musical chutzpah of a young Elton John. But she's also developing a worrying need to overcomplicate everything.
When did it become a rule that modern pop shows have to have more dancers than musicians?
Her five piece band make way more music than they could possibly be producing themselves, there are no backing vocalists and she basically sings along with her own pre-recorded vocals, which just seems such a waste of a fantastic voice. The real highlight of the show is when she drops the big production, chats engagingly with her fans and sings songs solo at her piano (admittedly an instrument fashioned from a motorbike). That's where you see and hear what an undeniable talent she is.
Gaga likes to think of herself as a pop artist, but a little more music and a little less art might make this the perfect pop extravaganza. ( telegraph.co.uk )
Blog : Good As New
Post : Lady Gaga: Born This Way tour, Helsinki, review
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