Theodorakis/News
Lady Gaga performs during her Monsters Ball concert at MSG.Another week, another Lady Gaga concert.
Or so it seems.
For the record, La Gaga's Garden show Monday night marks the third time this clothes horse has tramped through town in the last year.
And no wonder. She can pack the rafters of the Garden in an age when lots of other stars can barely fill the first rows of a bistro.
More, Our Lady of Perpetual Exposure has come up with an extremely elaborate show, a savvy decision, considering she wound up touring for such a long time on just one full album.
While so much face-time might test the attention span of a fan in an earlier era, Lady's strategy of constant engagement falls right in step with the Twitter-driven, over-communicating world of right now.
Even so, the question lingers: Did Monday night's return of her "Monster Ball" really justify one more trip down Gaga lane?
For fans who'd never seen it before, it most definitely did. But for those who have, the show provided an opportunity to recognize her talents beyond the flashy staging and globally directed "message."
Make no mistake. The show certainly has no shortage of likeable sight gags. Personal faves include the video of a woman wretching blue vomit all over Gaga, followed by the Lady herself savoring a fistfull of bloody entrails. But that's just the icing on her provocative cake.
Lady Gaga didn't hold back with her costumes and pizzazz at her concert. (Theodorakis/News)
What impressed most was the sheer disco fun of Gaga's repertoire. In songs performed Monday night like "Glitter and Grease," "Telephone" and "Boys Boys Boys," she proved herself to have the most effervescent dance music released in the last two years. It fully deserves the unstoppable radio play it has earned.
Better, Gaga delivered it once agan in robust voice, hitting the trickiest notes even while dancing mightily. That's a most rare talent among stars whose shows rely so heavily on theatrics.
If only Gaga had no pretensions beyond such blithe entertainment.
Unfortunately, her desire to be seen as THE avant garde artiste of the hour clashes badly with many aspects of her display - most clearly, her material. The songs all fall in deep debt to the dance music of the '80s, making it far more retro than avant. Songs like "The Fame" and "Beautiful Dirty Rich" sound like they came right out of the "Dynasty" age.
Once again Monday night she delivered all-too-many pep talks to her fans about "being free" and "being yourself" - bromides that now sound canned and corny, not to mention as self-serving as an awards show acceptance speech.
Shouldn't someone who looks this outrageous have more of a sense of irony?
Then again, maybe that's asking too much too soon from the young star.
She has, after all, only the one full CD, and this sole, very long tour, to her name. Perhaps it's enough that, beneath all her reaching, she's putting on a live show that truly pops.
jfarber@nydailynews.com
No comments:
Post a Comment