Just saw the first concert on Lady Gaga's new tour, which begins in Montreal. I was invited to attend this concert as a lark. I actually didn't really know much about her music before I went. This may be the best way to go to a concert. No expectations of any sort!
All I knew was that I was going to see a performer who has enjoyed the kind of meteoric success that encourages comparisons to Madonna.
But, beyond this most obvious superficial comparison, the similiarities end. This performer in a blonde wig is so much more than a savvy marketer. Her work is very dark, sometimes, shockingly so. And her musical chops are serious. She really plays the piano and the way she performed "Poker Face" it's clear she's also the music's composer. There's a way she leans into the harmonic progressions and delays the gratification of some of their resolutions that are hallmark idiosyncracies of music played by its composer. The fact that she's simultaneously bucking her ass in the air, bouncing her stilletto along the upper register of the keyboard, makes it all the more fun and keeps it from taking itself too seriously.
There's a lot that's subversive in her show. "Our hair is perfect. Bang bang we're beautiful and dirty rich. We live a cute life... our hair is perfect while we're all getting shit wrecked."
In the final analysis, I'd say she shares a lot more in common with David Bowie than with Madonna. Big Question: How does someone so dark and subversive end up filling a stadium tour? Seems almost miraculous. Could it have something to do with the disintigration of the recording industry machine in recent years?
