Singapore Romace w Lady Gaga x 29/5

After a few months of waiting, SHE IS FINALLY IN TOWN!

I am not super duper crazy about Lady Gaga but not to the extent of missing her live performance!

& because I wanted to watch her, SP had no choice but to come along :P

We got the seating tickets (at a steal of $108 :D)

We arrived at 730pm and had an amazing DJ set rocking the house down!
If only our local clubs have such ab-fab DJ :| #justsaying

By 830pm, the 11,000-strong crowd was pulsating with anticipation and finally roared in unison when the lights went off and Lady Gaga's face appeared on the wide-screen monitors.

The curtain dropped to unveil a forbidding three-storey high Gothic-style castle, a scene straight out of Frankenstein.  

As the show kicked off, thousands of Little Monsters raised their claws (even my pop knew about this, seriously!) to greet Lady Gaga's entrance as an… alien. 

To be precise, a "Predator-like" alien riding a living, breathing black steed, accompanied by her macabre chain-mailed henchmen, who in turn carried flags spelling out "G.O.A.T".

Her outfit was part S&M bondage, part futuristic, part Goth all rolled into one. 

So-called Illuminati influences, invoking Jesus' name in vain, macabre, irrelevant imagery and lots of skin, blood and guns have come to be what one expects from a Lady Gaga concert.

Before long, the song was over and she re-appeared -- screaming in the throes of childbirth behind a giant, car-sized distended pregnant belly that looked like an uncooked whole chicken from afar. 

To top it off, the 26-year-old part-pop, part-fashion megastar yelled "Singapore, I am not a prisoner."

But despite the overblown, exaggerated sets and costumes was that Gaga has real singing chops: how many artistes can prance around performing gravity-defying dance moves while wearing rib-cracking PVC gowns but still belt out hit songs like "Born This Way" without lip-syncing?

She is also a helluva live performer -- at least five costume changes, as many hats, and grueling dance routines for every song. 

The tickets, priced as high as $291 for the free-standing front row, was worth every cent if only for the surreal set, props and the out-of-this-world sartorial feast on display.

She raced through her mega dance hits — "Just Dance", "Alejandro", "Love Game", "Bad Romance" — all the while keeping the audience guessing what props and costumes she would use next.

And she didn't disappoint -- a machine gun bra (Madonna's bullet bra circa 2012), homo-erotic gyrating on a man-meat sofa, liberal use of the "F" word and simulating sex acts with a motorcycle were all examples of her excellent showmanship although they didn't seem to add or subtract from her performance.

The excitement was palpable when Lady Gaga appeared in a meat leotard for the Born This Way Ball. 

She also gave a shout-out to Indonesia (She was banned from performing in Jakarta due to controversy) with the following message, "Cause you were born this way, Indonesia!"

There were light-hearted moments too, as when she sang a birthday song for a young fan who was holding a writing which goes, "It's my 19th Birthday today."
Needless to say, she was so touched that she cried. How overwhelming she must have felt to have an international star singing a birthday song right infront of you!?

From a bizarre powder-pink origami gown and later, a spiky Statue of Liberty hat, to a very creepy Alien costume (all sparkling spines and tendrils) and a meat dress -- torn off later to become a meat leotard, it was a visual feast of the senses.

One of my favorite highlights of the night was when a stripped-down Gaga delivered a solo, heart-wrenching rendition of "Hair", accompanied by just her bike-mounted piano.

She spoke openly about how as an insecure teen student, she was teased and verbally abused for being known as the girl who is always singing and yes, her dad still frowns whenever she mentioned she is a school drop-out.
"Don't change the way you are, because you were born this way: "Don't want to change and I don't want to be ashamed/ I'm the spirit of my hair, it's all the glory that I bear."

Her barely resolved angst was palpable as she threw herself into the song, fingers running across the keyboard, sometimes too choked with emotion to continue.

Her encore rendition of Marry The Night was another standout and saw her Little Monsters up on their feet and cheering loudly while waving their paws to the beat.

Overall, her concert is at times shocking, raunchy, mellow and just plain bizarre.

Let me end my entry with a quote from the mother monster herself :

 "I am you. I am your dreams, I am your hopes, everything you love and hate about yourself, I am."

Oh! And I totally love her illustration of not letting others dim your shine by saying,
"Excuse me, don't block my spotlight." with your hand covering your forehead to shield from glaring light.

That is true Lady Gaga for you — bizarre, strange and talented.

I had a (Born this way) Ball of a time with Lady Gaga.

x