The return of Lady Gaga

The music is always good and she always looks interesting. But what I like most about Lady Gaga is that she cares so much for her followers that she makes sure they get a show each time she steps out. I do not mean that only when she performs or in the case of her music but also with the art of her fashion statements whenever she goes out. Remember that egg outfit two years ago?

I was watching Fashion Police last Sunday evening and there was a clip of Lady Gaga promoting her concert in Hong Kong wearing a gown made of human hair. Maybe, it was because there is a cut titled Hair in her Born This Way album. But whatever the reason, she got people talking about the dress and about the concert. She got the flak from Fashion Police but I am sure she made lots of fans in HK happy.

I do not know how many people Lady Gaga has working for her. A lot, probably. So much creativity and hard work go into her packaging. We can say that everything is a career move on her part but just the same, it also shows how much she appreciates her followers. Unlike other stars who couldn’t care less, Lady Gaga makes sure that the public gets what they expect from her.

So if she gives the same attention to detail to her eyeliner as she would to a new song, can you just imagine how much work goes into her concerts. Her last Asian tour, The Monster Ball held nearly three years ago, was big. She is back again in The Born This Way Ball and having an idea of how she works, I am sure that she would not have gone on this tour unless she could serve up something not only new but bigger and better than the last one. 

The Born This Way Ball is a 13-city, 33-date concert series produced by Live Nation and brought to Manila by Ovation Productions. The tour kicked off last April 27 in South Korea. This will be followed by shows in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. Then the Gaga will be off to Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia before invading 21 cities in Europe. 

Pinoys like Lady Gaga a lot. In fact, local response to the concert is so tremendous that what was originally a one-night stint has been extended to two shows. People are buying tickets to watch her and paying good money for them. No choice as these cost P15,000, P11,000, P5,000 and P2,000.

You can now watch the Born This Way Ball on May 21 and 22 at the new SM Mall of Asia Indoor Arena in Pasay City. Tickets are available at all SM Tickets outlets nationwide or you can go online at www.smtickets.com. What? Not TicketWorld or TicketNet? Well it looks like SM is now also into selling show tickets full time. 

Now what can you expect to see for your P15,000 or P2,000 in Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Ball? The focus of the show is on her Born This Way album. Some people find the CD not as appealing as her first release The Fame. It is hard to argue with that because Fame has hugely commercial cuts like Just Dance, Poker Face, Love Game, Paparazzi and others.

Born This Way though, which has the distinction of having the fastest million selling single in pop music history, is the more sharply defined, more coherent production. Not merely coherent but superb. The way Gaga blended rock and electronic Euro-disco is quite an accomplishment. Even the themes found in the songs go deeper and darker than Monster. This girl is not only a clever stylist or marketing genius, she is also a writer with intelligence, sensitivity and most of all, daring to say what she wants.

Now this does not mean that audiences will be getting philosophical musings from Lady Gaga to the tune of P15,000. She is too smart for that. This girl will make sure you will have a thoroughly enjoyable concert with numbers like Born This Way, Judas, Bloody Mary plus those early favorites like Paparazzi, Just Dance, Poker Face, Alejandro and others.