THE MONSTER BALL WILL SET YOU FREE

The Belgian fans where truly looking forward to the 17th and the 18th of May, the days on which Lady Gaga’s huge Monster Ball Tour set foot in Belgium. She came, she saw, she conquered.

At the speed of light, Lady Gaga rose to number one in almost the entire world and became big overnight. Not precisely a matter of luck, as Stefani Germanotta patiently build up to where she stands as Lady Gaga today. There must have been only one thing on her mind all that time: Fame with a capital ‘F’. Growing up in New York, going to a strict Catholic school, her father declared her nuts when she started going freaky in nightclubs. Nowadays she shuts him up with her song ‘Speechless’.

Her father was not entirely wrong though. She and her creative team ‘Haus of Gaga’ are known to be slightly nuts. Waiting for the metro on our way to the Antwerp Sportpaleis, we overheard things like “What a crowd, right?” “Yeah, it’s for that mad woman that is performing tonight.” And performed she!

After the burlesque supporting act by the really disturbing New York based band ‘Semi Precious Weapons’, the theatrical curtain dropped to make way for the huge set in which Gaga would half an hour later start her journey to the Monster Ball. When the lights went out, the countdown started and ‘I’m a free bitch’ sounded through the loudspeakers. The crowd went mad. The said journey started with ‘Dance in the dark’ set in the décor of a backstreet district. “Now we will never make it to the Monster Ball”, one of the backing vocals moaned over the broken car. “Yes, you will. I will take you there”, Gaga answered after ‘Glitter and Grease’, presumably a track on her next album. “Just dance”, her solution was. Then ‘Beautiful, Dirty, Rich’, ‘Vanity’ and ‘The Fame’ followed one and other in a fast pace. After a break in which a video and dance beat track added lustre, Gaga appeared again in a stranded metro, dressed in the white latex suit by Rachael Barrett as seen on the video of ‘Telephone’. Besides, the dancers were also amazing and they perfectly showed their ability in absolutely every song, creating a fabulous show crowned by our beloved Lady Gaga.

She does love her gay fans. Just before kicking off ‘Boys, boys, boys’ she put all the men in the audience in one box: her gays. The crowed went wild. Yes, the audience was, at least in the centre, undoubtedly mainly gay. So the show went on. ‘Telephone’ was a party hit. For ‘Brown Eyes’ and ‘Speechless’ she sat at a burning piano, demonstrating she can really sing. She has not exactly the talent for playing the piano with her stilettos, but the crowd went with it anyway.

Another kicker was ‘Monster’, by then in a dark forest setting. The paws did go up. The public also showed their teeth, as she demanded in ‘Teeth’. Almost reaching her destiny, she bathed in the water of the purifying fountain during ‘Alejandro’ and ‘Poker Face’. Looking for her way, she found herself left alone with the paparazzi monster. After shouting “We did it kleine monsters (little monsters in Dutch), we did it!”, the curtains went down again. Was it over?

Oh no, it wasn’t. She did make it to the Monster’s Ball, occasion on which the crowd could finally go all ra ra ra ah ah ah, roma ro ma ma gaga ooh la la. ‘Bad Romance’ was the perfect closer.

Her tour goes on and she will be back in Belgium in November. Maybe, just maybe, she will by then have a translation in ‘Belgian’ (sic) for bullshit. Unsurprisingly, no one could give her the answer to that question…

It was exhilarating, it was grand, it was magnificent. Her designer costumes and shoes were outrageous as expected. She took the crowd on an amazing journey to set them free, and they meekly followed her. Our ears were still ringing long after. |