Virginia (NA):
Almost a month ago, I had the fortune of being one of the 15.000 people that could see Lady Gaga live in Madrid, and not one of the cheated fans that couldn’t see her show.
When I went out of the subway, I could see the Palacio de Deportes but what surprised me was the queue, the longest I’ve ever seen. I’m not exaggerating if I say that there was 1 km of people queuing: no further comment. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait in an extremely long queue because I was able to enter through one of the sideway doors.
Still, I had to wait like 2 and half hours because when I went into the venue it was 6:30 and the show started at 9, but I didn’t care: I was incredibly excited and suddenly I felt really anxious, infected by the atmosphere. So I stayed in my seat, just in front of the stage, taking notes for this review, ha ha!
The opening band, Semi-Precious Weapons, left a lot to be desired. Sometimes, the main singer was really annoying, without taking into account that he was wearing the highest heels I’ve ever seen, I don’t know how he could walk and even run with them. When they eventually finished there was still 30 minutes more to wait till we could enjoy a spectacular concert. I was constantly looking at my watch, as if that could make time go by faster.
Suddenly, the lights went off. The crowd started to scream, and on the curtain that covered the huge stage a video was showed. The video was accompanied by a remix of “Dance in the dark”. At the end of the video there were some numbers, like the ones you can see in the old movies when they used to start with a countdown.
At that moment, the crowd went completely mad. A light turned on behind the curtain. Lady Gaga’s silhouette appeared. At long last the show started.
The concert’s plot is the story of Gaga and her friends attempting to get to the Monster Ball. Firstly, their car broke down. When Gaga opened the hood to see what the engine inside is like, we were surprised: the car was actually a piano. Have you ever seen someone playing the piano with their feet? (doing it well, of course). Then you haven’t seen anything.
After the car crash, they decided to take the subway, which dropped them in a mysterious location. Then a twister picked them up and dropped them in a dark forest, which could be perfectly the setting for Tim Burton’s next movie, where finally Gaga faced and destroyed the Fame Monster. In each location (which involved, of course, a complete change of the scenery), she sang 3 or 4 songs. The performances were heavily choreographed with at least ten dancers accompanying Gaga.
Concerning the playlist, all her hits were included. The first one was the catchy “Just Dance”, at the beginning of the concert (maybe the third song she sang). About halfway through the show, she sang “Telephone” in her underwear and just after that, the dancers and band left Gaga alone, with the Spanish flag and her piano, and she gave a breathtaking performance of “Speechless”, while the piano was burning. And the epic final, “Alejandro”. My favourite songs? “Poker Face”, “Paparazzi” and the astonishing performance of “Bad Romance”, when everyone in the audience did the famous dance from the music video. The encore was again Bad Romance. She really aimed her performance at the true fans who know all the songs.
The public was great, singing all the songs, jumping and dancing enthusiastically. I could even feel the floor shaking below my feet! However, if the audience gave their 100%, Lady Gaga gave her 200%! What maybe some people could find boring or tedious was that between some songs she gave speeches: there was a lot of “live your life and love yourself”. In my opinion, there were some amusing anecdotes she told, like for example that in her first concert there were just 12 spectators or how people dismissed her when she started her music career, telling that she would never make it. Anyway, she talked about how you feel when you are different, when the rest of people don’t accept you because of any particular reason: you’re gay or a freak or simply different. Just someone that has lived that situation knows how important it is to hear that you’re important. In a few words, she empowered us to follow our own dreams. That’s Lady Gaga’s main goal in a concert: make people comfortable with themselves. However, I may be wrong; perhaps it is better to hear the typical “You guys are having a good time tonight?” and in that way, people won’t get bored (although I really doubt someone may get bored at those moments, except the journalist from “El País”).
In conclusion, if I were told to describe her concert with one word, I would say: superb. Whether you like her music or not, you have to admit Gaga is one of the most unique artists and performers in the history of music.
By the way, yes, she’s a genius at getting people to talk about her, and yes, she wears absurd clothes but if someone believes that she lip-synchs, I can tell you that this girl does sing and she has got a hell of a voice.
Great work, Virginia! The long wait has been well worth it. Actually, I daresay you should apply for the post the guy from El Pais is taking right now, ha ha!
