Monsters At The Ball: Lady Gaga In Dublin

We don’t normally cover gigs here on BurnAllZombies, but we also don’t normally get a chance to check out a show as theatrical, bombastic and epic as Lady Gaga’s The Monster Ball. (We also don’t normally get nominated for awards, but it’s turning out to be one of those days.) Still in the relatively early days of her career, the performer’s arena tour (previously a joint headlining tour with Kanye West) has performed to sell-out venues across the States, and has been totally reworked for her European shows. It’s also proven that Gaga is a lady who truly deserves her place in the big-time.

Support for Gaga’s Dublin gig was provided by New York’s Semi Precious Weapons and Denmark’s Alphabeat, two bands that complemented Lady Gaga’s performance, but in totally different ways. Semi Precious Weapons brought a vicious, androgynous glam rock to an audience probably too young to appreciate it, or perhaps too meek for their brash pseudo-punk stylings. The band already have the attitude and swagger to perform to an arena audience, but left little chance to appreciate their sound, with frontman Justin Tranter dropping to the floor of the stage to change his leggings and high heel boots, to the confusion of more than a few parents who’d brought their kids for a good old-fashioned pop show and left with a much different education. It was a suitable introduction to the pomp and drama of Gaga’s performance, after a quick detour via Denmark.

For their part, Alphabeat went down a lot better than Semi Precious Weapon, but never quite made the stage their own and clearly would have felt more comfortable on a smaller stage. Nonetheless, the Danes’ infectious pop got the audience singing along and ready for Lady Gaga, notably by finishing their set with “Fascination”, aka the song from that Diet Coke TV ad.

With the European leg of Gaga’s tour only beginning on Thursday, there were some small teething problems: reviews of her shows at the MEN in Manchester called attention to them, including delays and missed cues, but also highlighted the many, many high points. Dublin didn’t get any such technical difficulties, but was still waiting nearly an hour for her to take the stage once Alphabeat had departed. Nobody really minded much: Michael Jackson songs and Mexican waves filled the time, but there was nonetheless a sigh of relief once the singer’s appearance on stage became inevitable. And by that stage, nobody cared any more: it was gonna be a good evening.

A white curtain covered the stage, a screen upon which to project some artistic videos of Lady Gaga, before lifting to reveal a New York streetscape: two open girders made to resemble buildings and covered with neon advertising (amongst them a dentist, BBQ and large sign reading “What The Fuck Have You Done” )with a car in the middle of the stage. Gaga performed “Dance In The Dark” atop one such building, her band and back-up singers residing in the opposite building across the stage. Making her way down to the main level of the stage through new song “Glitter and Grease,” she opened the bonnet of the car, revealing a keyboard on which she played an introduction to “Just Dance.” A catwalk in the middle of the stage allowed the singer and dancers amongst the audience, and Gaga was just at home on the smaller area as she was taking up the larger stage, and certainly wasn’t afraid to play to her fans. She explained the concept of the show to one of the dancers, a “friend” that she was taking to the Monster Ball. But how would they get there now that her car broke down?

“Beautiful, Dirty, Rich” and “Vanity” made way for a costume change, and Lady Gaga returned to perform “The Fame” in flowing red robes alongside “Emma” (a keytar/cello/synthesiser designed by the Haus of Gaga which she used during last week’s BRIT Awards performance.) A brief interlude provided more video and allowed another costume change: dressed as a nun in a transparent white habit (and with plasters covering her nipples), she rode a Subway carriage onto the stage, armed with her disco stick for a hyped-up version of “Love Game” before dedicating “Boys Boys Boys” to her many gay male fans. For “Money Honey,” she emerged from centre stage on a pedestal, playing yet another keytar and with a hat that resembled splayed legs before stripping down to her underwear to perform “Telephone” (complete with Beyonce audio cameo) on the catwalk. By the time the singer returned to the stage proper, a rickety piano had been wheeled out and, for two songs (“Brown Eyes” and “Speechless”) there was no Lady Gaga, there was even no arena, just a small stage with the singer-songwriter plaintively addressing her fans and talking about her life with no shortage of wry humour and modesty. But things soon picked up again, with a hurricane (of swirling panels and lights) arriving alongside S&M-styled dancers who helped her into a leather dress with large head-dress so Lady Gaga could return once more, performing “So Happy I Could Die” on another raising platform that lifted her close to the arena’s roof.

Another short break, and as the screen lifted, the audience discovered that the twister had blown them to Central Park, littered with misshapen streetlights and park benches resembling razor blades, where Lady Gaga performed “Monster” in a large white…well, it looked like a yeti-costume. Stripping down to a black leotard, she performed “Teeth” with blood smeared along her neck and cleavage, before cavorting in an angelic fountain for “Alejandro,” fireworks shooting from its wings as the song closed and allowed Gaga another costumer change for “Poker Face.”

The show ended with a “Paparazzi” fight, serenading a giant octopus (?!) before playing out the Monster Ball with “Bad Romance,” incorporating a spinning gyroscope, disco-ball motorbike helmets and a final bow as Gaga and the other performers left the stage, a very impressive two hours after they had walked onto it, leaving an audience in awe of what they had witnessed, a full-on performance more akin to a musical than a simple gig, that went by pretty smoothly for all the costume and set changes in it. And, more importantly, left several thousand fans with a night they’ll never forget.

Zombie Rating: A+

Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour is currently touring the UK and Ireland.