Lady Gaga at Allphones Arena 30/8/14 - Live Review

"Grab a glowstick and a drink or GET THE FUCK OUT."

You could call Lady Gaga many things. Fashionista, Queen of controversy, a monster, an artist, but out of every title or adjective you could use nothing suits her better than performer.

If Gaga fans are anything, they're passionate, there's only a handful of artists with the kind of fans that will come to their shows wearing outfits, looking out at the crowd was like looking at a thousand mini-Gagas. There were plenty of wigs, lots of ass cheeks and enough glitter to drown an entire country

Personally, I've never been a fan of the arena pop show. There's a very stark difference between a band playing in a club and a pop singer with a hoard of back-up dancers, and the spectacle has never seemed to capture me as much as it does for some people but I was still quite keen to see Gaga, a person who could entrance the world the way that she has, must be a total powerhouse.

We took our seats while DJ Starlight was pumping out interstellar beats. Her set was... sub-par. It could've been the fact that we were sitting or it could've been because the messy clumps of electronic noise were simply uninteresting and well.. boring. There was no atmosphere or excitement and the trickle of people into the venue was incredibly slow leaving the whole room feeling a tad empty.

It was slightly hard to differentiate between the music in DJ Starlight's set and the music in the interval (leaving her necessity at dangerously low levels), but slowly the anticipation started to build. There was a sudden gush of people and the venue came alive. The floor still seemed half-full, with a patchy and spacious crowd with loose stragglers hanging around the sides. The stage was something out of this world, jagged, white, crystal formations formed the base with clear-floored ramps connecting each part of the huge A shaped wonder.

A roadie tugged down at a massive silk curtain and revealed a white stage set made of curvy lines and roman pillars, back up dancers in vibrant colours emerged, kicking up their legs and strutting about in crazy formation.

Then she was on stage and I've decided to sue all the punters for the hearing loss caused by their outrageous screaming. It was the most ridiculous sound I've heard, a clamour of crying, screeching and 'OHMYGOD'ing that set everything on fire (especially my ear-drums).

Gaga danced without showing any sign of tiring, sang with strength that I didn't quite anticipate and performed with the unique vigour that's made her a world-wide hit. Just Dance, Telephone, Paparazzi, each song she sang shook the rafters, finishing almost every tune with a long pause for A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E (featuring some of her *heavy breathing*). The back up dancers were wonders all to their own, the set that featured massive blow up flowers, a chair-hand that rose up holding a tiny Gaga while she sang, there was even a bed at some point? The whole thing was out of this world. She had many costume-changes and the set fell a little flat every time she was absent but the crowd came all the more aflame when she re-appeared in another (often famous) outfit. The moment that her outfitters changed her clothes on stage was one of the most shocking and courageous ones, Gaga has stripped herself down (metaphorically and literally) in front of the media plenty of times, but there's something about changing live in front of thousands upon thousands of people that's not only defiant and amazing, but uttlerly admirable.

"Love is full potential" She stated beautifully during a little chat about her connection to gay people and growing up. Not only is Gaga an icon, she's apparently an inspirational speaker! "This song is for people with a drug or alcohol problem, the first step is admitting you don't have a problem," well maybe not. Whether motivational, funny or controversial, everything she said oozed iconoclast.

It was a really special night that I won't be forgetting any time soon, Lady Gaga is worth every clap in every A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E that she receives.

Review by Geneva Valek

Photo taken on her iphone and filtered with instagram ugh

#ladygaga #genevavalek