Jazmine Reed

In the mist of a massive decline in record sales, artists are hitting the road and using concerts to make a profit and connect with their fans. While many entertainers think a few graphic backdrops and a microphone will suffice, one woman thinks, goes and lives outside of the box. She has been called “eye-catching,” “genius,” “ballsy” and “the best thing since Madonna.” She is Lady Gaga, and her concert is the epitome of everything that defines her; eye-catching, genius, ballsy, and the best thing since Madonna.

To open her much anticipated, two-hour long show, Lady Gaga blatantly explained the philosophy behind her concerts, “My shows are for my fans to feel free, so we keep the freaks out, and close the f*cking doors!” And once those doors were closed, the Fox Theater transformed from scenery of renaissance with its golden and marble architecture and a faux starlit-sky into a massive circus of chaos. And the Lady whom was the ringleader, does everything but disappoint.  

Almost each song had its own motif with choreography, set, and outfit.  These elements helped construct each song into a performance piece. Her opening song, “Dance In The Dark,” was embellished with green lasers and back-up dancers donning white latex outfits parading around her. She stood high and mighty on a digital-like box and sang with a portable piano in hand. Though each song brought out a different emotion, “Speechless” was the cell-phone-in-the-air song of the night. The story behind the lyrics –  her father had the option to have open-heart surgery, and through this plea from his daughter, he eventually agreed to the now successful surgery – Lady Gaga explains prior to performing the song, showing her more vulnerable side and setting a softer tone for the song. She sang the song on a rotating piece while playing the piano and kicking her legs in the air. She requested that the audience sing the last few lines of song, only to start singing the song from the beginning that lead to an encore.

Arguably, the best song of the night was “Monster” from her latest album, The Fame Monster. Set in scenery of a black forest with dying trees, smoke filling the air and red lights beaming down on the stage, Lady Gaga and her dancers manifest the lyrics into a more narrative-like performance. Lady Gaga wears all black—black dress, black feathers, black sunglasses and does a wardrobe change in the middle of the song. She ends the song with the dancers lifting her in the air, like peasants hailing to their queen; and the crowd roared with applause and cheers.

Of course, there can’t be a discussion of Lady Gaga without the mentioning of her outfits that have helped her skyrocket to superstardom.  She has more than a half-dozen outfit changes, each more dazzling and outrageous than the last.  First, she starts in a sequined romper where the pants are later ripped from her petite frame, showing the sequined one-piece underneath. Like on the red carpet, she used larger-than-life headpieces during her show. One, a white, feathered and sequined headpiece and another was a headpiece of two circles going through her hair being held by wood and chains. She had more beautiful lingerie than a Victoria’s Secret show, wearing a red dominatrix outfit for “PokerFace”  and a little gold number completed with a gold headpiece during the show.

Many elements make a concert fun and exciting, and one of those is the atmosphere.  The audience was an array of different people and different ages from all walks of life.  To one’s left, there would be a transsexual in a Lady Gaga costume and to the right, a middle-aged dad in a Mr. Roger’s sweater awkwardly nodding his head to the beat of the music. No matter the background, everyone was on their feet, dancing and truly enjoying themselves, for there were no guards up and no rules – they had locked the f*cking doors, and everyone was free.