Concert Review: Lady Gaga Worth the Wait

By COLLEEN TRACHY

A projection of a picture of Lady Gaga, holding a white ribbon in her right hand and her disco stick in her left, on a 25-foot screen in front of the stage greeted concert-goers Sept. 28 at the Landmark Theater in Richmond.  The concert was one of two rescheduled dates from Lady Gaga’s spring “The Fame Ball” tour.

The concert began with a montage introducing Lady Gaga as Candy Warhol in “Who Shot Candy Warhol?” ending with the words “The Heart” on the screen before launching into a countdown that ended with “My name is Lady Gaga and this is my Haus.”

The screen than depicted a fiery explosion before dropping to reveal Gaga standing in the middle of the stage surrounded by five-foot plates that looked like cracked mirrors; she then began singing “Paparazzi.”  Her three male dancers, who have been with her “for two years,” accompanied her around the stage.

Despite being backed by a live band, Lady Gaga brought out an electric keyboard for the end of “LoveGame” and for the whole song of “Money Honey.” During the Cherrytree version of “Poker Face,” accompanied by her trademark lit-up pink bubble piano, she talked to the crowd between verses of the song.  Standing on the bench in stilettos, leaning over into the mike and playing the piano, she ended the song.

Lady Gaga wanted to make it an interactive show, inviting the crowd to sing along and do different arm and hand motions.  Before “Brown Eyes,” she told people to hold hands with both people standing next to you even if you didn’t know them.

“I have the best fans in the world. Because I see glitter, and I see makeup, and lots of sweating, which means you have your priorities straight,” she said right before “Eh Eh.”

Gaga began the night in a geometric jumper before changing into a glittery military jacket.  She ended the show in her trademark bubble dress, taking it off to reveal a pink bra and tan, skintight leather pants.  As if that wasn’t mind-blowing enough, her microphone stand was in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Standout performances included “Paparazzi,” “Eh Eh,” “Love Game,” “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich,” “Boys Boys Boys” and “Poker Face.”

After an hour and ten minutes of straight performing, many fans were exclaiming to their friends after the show had ended: “That was awesome.”