Concert review: Lady Gaga at the United Center
"It’s raining unicorns and gay teddy bears,” Lady Gaga said Monday at the sold-out United Center as the audience hurled gifts at her. Then she bit the heads off several dolls, but allowed a mini-Paul Stanley to live another day and watch the show from the lip of the stage. Kiss, and Kiss-style spectacle, still rules in the Land of Gaga.
The singer appreciates the circus of performing, and has turned herself into the pop world's most incisive commentator on its seductions and pitfalls. Every eye-catching moment had a few more layers to it that made this 100-minute performance something more than just a collection of stunts.
Last time through town, headlining the Lollapalooza festival in Grant Park in August, the singer born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta 24 years ago wore a chip on her shoulder the size of one of her oversized stage props. She was ranting, raving and doing a lot of preaching while her concert proceeded in fits and starts.
“Do you think I’m sexy?” she purred as she smeared herself with fake blood.
Self-empowerment messages were the big theme, and Gaga strived for solidarity of the you-can-do-it-too variety. While the message was beaten into the ground by the end, she gave it a provocative twist as she advocated forcefully for gay rights and virtually limitless self-expression. Her closing song, "Born This Way," was far more persuasive on the stage than it is as a recording, where it comes across as a knockoff of Madonna ("Express Yourself") by way of the Staple Singers ("Respect Yourself"). It came alive as an anthem in performance, with Gaga and her backing singers amping up the song's gospel underpinning to ecstatic heights.
The singer affirmed that she has a strong, pliant voice, and pointedly dripped disdain for performers who lip sync without naming names. She went out of her way to showcase that she was not only singing and playing live, but was backed by a six-piece band that delivered Gothic drama and glam-rock strut.
The show's centerpiece was an epic reading of a new ballad, "You and I," scheduled to be part of her forthcoming second album, due in May. It began with Gaga singing a bluesy lament at the piano and evolved into a big hand-waving crowd-pleaser, complete with a bombastic guitar solo straight out of Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" video. But then she let dissonance consume the song, pounding her boot heel into the piano while the guitar sputtered feedback. She settled back in and began singing the praises of her favorite Chicago burger stand (Kuma's Corner) and baseball team (Cubs -- much to the chagrin of some very vocal White Sox loyalists), as if holding court at a piano bar after-hours with 20,000 of her closest friends.
It could be argued that Gaga is the sum of her predecessors, and some parts of the show certainly were: "Alejandro" was a mash-up of an ABBA song ("Fernando") and the blasphemy-tweaking imagery in a Madonna video ("Like a Prayer"). Would she exist without superstar chameleons such as David Bowie or cult figures such as Klaus Nomi as inspiration? But her ideas run more than skin-deep, a visual mix of striking movie references, from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" to Martin Scorsese's "After Hours," and a sound that spans flamenco and Goth to disco and heavy metal. In that sense she is the best of what pop can be: expansive, pushy, humorous, inclusive. Even gay teddy bears and unicorns are welcome.
Lady Gaga set list Monday at the United Center:
1. Intro
2. Dance in the Dark
3. Glitter and Grease
4. Just Dance
5. Beautiful, Dirty, Rich
6. The Fame
7. LoveGame
8. Boys Boys Boys
9. Money Honey
10. Telephone
11. You and I
12. Monster
13. Teeth
14. Alejandro
15. Poker Face
16. Paparazzi
Encore:
17. Bad Romance
18. Born This Way
All the glitz and glitter, pomp and circumstance is there to hide the fact that her "music" sucks!
Posted by: Steve B | March 01, 2011 at 08:55 AM
This concert was amazing. she sure knows how to entertain
Posted by: tintinex | March 01, 2011 at 09:44 AM
No shout out to the Scissor Sisters for their fantastically fabulously fun opening???
This was a great show. I had an absolute blast and she sounded great. I had never realized what a great voice she has.
Posted by: Erica | March 01, 2011 at 10:04 AM
Goodness, this woman is every bit as irritating as Madonna ca. 1990 and THEN some...
Posted by: Jerry Haynes | March 01, 2011 at 10:27 AM
I never liked Madonna. Gaga, on the other hand, is outstanding.
Ale Ale Jandrrrrrro
Posted by: Peter | March 01, 2011 at 10:57 AM
Her speech pattern during the show is so bizarre to listen to.
Gaga drove the point of BORN THIS WAY into the ground, still an important message to support gay youth... but she must have said, "because I am born this way," almost fifty times... and the last time I heard, she is not a lesbian.
The video content and styling of the stage was very, very Madonna.
She is an amazing talent, but she needs to get her own persona and not borrow so much from other established performers.
Posted by: rich | March 01, 2011 at 11:11 AM
I thought the show was AMAZING!!!! She really put on an amazing show. I'm now one of her Little Monsters...at the ripe old age of 41!!!!!!
Posted by: Jennifer K | March 01, 2011 at 05:53 PM
people who say her music sucks
are on your computer nagging about this superstar because you are trying to make yourself feel better, even though haters know nothing
Posted by: fewa | March 01, 2011 at 09:01 PM
the concert was a blast! Being my first concert, I died and went to gaga heaven. her voice is so strong and her presence was just awesome.
i couldnt believe she was feet away from me. i want to see her again!
and to the point another person said about her saying "i/we are born this way" thats her whole message, love who you are. and side note-shes bisexual.
Posted by: Victoria | March 01, 2011 at 09:02 PM
Gag Gag
Posted by: JerryM | March 03, 2011 at 01:54 PM
Darn, so disappointed I missed this show. (rolls eyes)
Posted by: Jim | March 03, 2011 at 11:23 PM
Lady Gaga and Kiss should headline a festival together.
Posted by: DJ Apple | March 04, 2011 at 01:09 PM