Notes from the Monster Ball

GRap let its freak flag fly high and proudly last night as Lady Gaga brought her Monster Ball tour to our fair city. Let it be known that if you were anywhere near VanAndel Arena last night, you would never consider Grand Rapids to be a conservative city.

Lady Gaga and dancers wrap up the Monster Ball with "Born This Way" - photo by PastaWall

However, if you missed the show and had to rely on the GR Press for your Gaga review, you'd get a critique written especially for people who wanted nothing to do with Mother Monster in the first place:

(Gaga is) the same singer who commendably touts equality, decries bullying and urges fans to stay true to themselves – exclaiming in inspiring fashion, “You can be whoever it is that you want to be” – turns around just a few seconds later and declares, “I hate the truth.”

The same international superstar (winging her way to Paris after Tuesday's concert “to walk for the first time in a fashion show”) who proclaims, “I hate money,” also charges some pretty outrageous prices for tickets to her lavish shows.

"I hate the truth" was said with tongue firmly in cheek, as was "I hate money." Ticket prices may have been pricey in some areas, but they were certainly not the most expensive ever offered at VanAndel.

Gaga was everything advertised - outrageous, entertaining, offensive, provocative - and had a sold-out audience in the palm of her clawed hand. Also getting short shrift in the Press was opening act Scissor Sisters, who wound up the crowd with a lively 30-minute set, and a lead singer who wore less than Lady Gaga by the time he left the stage.