"If you want to be free and get to the Monster Ball, just follow the glitter way!" exclaimed Lady Gaga periodically through her set. And with that, she led the audience on a journey to get to her own liberation at the Monster Ball Tour, which stopped by John Paul Jones Arena last Wednesday night.
But the journey had already started before the concert for many individuals. It began with the preparation of the perfect "Gaga outfit" to blend with the singer and her diverse following. Many did not go all out, but that night at JPJ, 6-inch heels, short, outlandish dresses and eccentric accessories seemed to be everywhere.
The crazy outfits only added to the mounting tension. The show finally started as the opening act, Semi-Precious Weapons, took the stage. They hyped up the audience as the lead singer pulled an on-stage costume change, explained that they had been touring with Gaga since she started out and continued to play a short set of Gaga-esque songs. By the time they left the stage, the arena was abuzz with excitement.
When Gaga finally appeared, no one in the audience had any idea what to expect. She opened with "Dance in the Dark" and continued on to play a collection of songs from her two albums, The Fame and The Fame Monster, including a stripped down set of "Speechless" and a brand new song, "You and I." Her voice was alive and sounded even better than her studio-versions of songs in spite of her constant dancing.
To take everyone on the journey to get to the Monster Ball and make the night memorable, however, the props became essential to each set. In the first set of songs, a giant, broken-down jeep rolled out. Gaga dramatically opened up the hood, only to reveal a piano inside, which she pounded on ferociously. During the next set, she came out in a broken down subway car, explaining that she was worried that none of her usual methods of transportation would be useful in getting her to the ball. Along the way, the Lady and her horde of dancers encountered a tornado, as well as a terrifying clothes-attacking monster.
This was especially unfortunate, because her clothes themselves were important props. She came out resembling a nun, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, and the Nice Witch of the North from the same film. This last outfit was her most eccentric, as it featured a long train and moving parts throughout its design.
The best part of the show was that she remembered to thank her fans profusely for getting her where she is today. She reminded members of the audience that they could be anyone they wanted, thus exclaiming, "People come here to be liberated. I've created a place for all my little monsters to come and be free to be whoever they want." To help out those who were not as able as the audience, she placed a call to Virgin Mobile in the middle of a set to have them donate $20,000 to her favorite charity, The National Alliance to End Homelessness.
At the end of the show, she said goodbye to all her "monsters" and left the stage, only to come back one more time to show that she had arrived at the Monster Ball - and of course, using the opportunity to belt out "Bad Romance." She had finally been liberated, and with that, she let her "little monsters" leave feeling more free to follow their own "glitter way" to enlightenment.
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