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Celeb News: Lady Gaga, Twickenham Stadium: tedium and bathos
Member Since: 8/10/2010
Posts: 4,708
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Lady Gaga, Twickenham Stadium: tedium and bathos
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After Lady Gaga's concert at Twickenham last night, I asked some of the Little Monsters scurrying back to the station the name of the last song she had sung. The song she sang right after declaring that she had to bring the evening to an early end. The song she sang an hour after screaming that she would "sing her ***** off" and no one could stop her. Someone stopped her and no one could name it. (Update below.)
If someone had stopped her approximately an hour earlier, you would have felt shortchanged from such a brief evening but at least left on a high, perhaps after "Just Dance" or "Telephone" and a few of her odd postmodern Zodiac of costumes (yellow rubber nun-condom, white leather beekeeper, ram). Instead, the second hour proved an extended exercise in tedium and bathos.
If you're going to have a conceit - and Gaga is nothing if not conceited - you need to follow it through
The wheels really came off of Gaga's piano-motorcycle soon after the let's-meet-the-audience section, in which Little Monsters in the pit at the front chucked their billets doux at her and she talked about how much she loved us all. She sat at her piano and began a preamble to her song "Hair", about reinvention, before interrupting it to talk about how a record company suit had told her the Born This Way album was aimed at too small a niche (which tonight disproved).
Then began the tribute to Princess Diana. Words poured out about the Queen and victimisation, Amy Winehouse and songwriting, would we accept the song in the spirit in which it was given, she loved the UK, Princess Diana had always inspired her and her mother. I confess, I laughed. A lot. The ensuing song appeared to depend entirely on a pun between Di and die. After Diana, John Lennon and "Imagine". Then Freddie Mercury. It was like Desert Island Discs for the maudlin.
Had it started promisingly? Not really. After her perfume advert was shown a couple of times, the black stage curtain collapsed to reveal a massive castle, with turrets, battlements, walkways, crenellations, parapets et al. Unlike on her Monster Ball tour, which had had several elaborate scene changes and a vague plot, the castle sat there, large and expensive, for Gaga to move around without purpose.
Whereas at the Monster Ball Lady Gaga was riding high on popular and critical kudos, her pointed defensiveness last night set a sour tone: she talked about how this many people had come to see a "flop" album and noted how everyone knew the words to her earlier hits, of which there were annoyingly few.
She had every reason to be defensive: the songs from Born This Way were weak. Relying on the song-structure she perfected with "Bad Romance" (which we did get as a high point) or - to put it kindly - drawing on Eighties tunes and artists, they were uninspiring, inarticulately sung and generic. A pumping "Judas" served to point out the listlessness of the others. She was planning to end properly, some suggested, with "Marry the Night", which is another good 'un (if also derivative), but the man with his hand on the plug denied us this.
Update: I did leave before "Marry the Night" and "Edge of Glory", but it was not because I was eager to scurry home, as has been suggested in the comments: it was because Gaga said the show had to be cut short and I took that to mean when she finished, she finished. It doesn't change the substance of my review, however.
It made no difference to the majority of Little Monsters, who worshipped their cult-goddess. But as an ex-cultist myself, I felt disappointed: Gaga's moment has gone, snapped up by the musically forward, less portentous, more fun-loving and infinitely more tuneful Rihanna. Perhaps Gaga was sent to earth to redeem us, as she likes to think - but her ascension is now overdue.
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Member Since: 8/10/2010
Posts: 4,708
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This should be moved to BTW Ball Thread I guess 
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Member Since: 3/22/2012
Posts: 9,573
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The comments below that article are way more amusing and accurate than this 'review'
You try so hard all the time , it feels painfully ridiculous .
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Member Since: 8/10/2010
Posts: 4,708
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Quote:
Originally posted by Liberdade mi amor
The comments below that article are way more amusing and accurate than this 'review'
You try so hard all the time , it feels painfully ridiculous .
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I was going for unbiased opinion not for comments by fans.
You try so hard - should be off the vocabulary, it sounds cliche now like it's the only response to anything you don't like to hear.
And yes, the show was... well not that amusing.
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Member Since: 4/30/2011
Posts: 3,036
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This person should NOT be reviewing anything music-related for a living if they can't hear the tunes on the BTW album. That really is beyond sad.
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Member Since: 3/22/2012
Posts: 9,573
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ale-Alejandro
I was going for unbiased opinion not for comments by fans.
You try so hard - should be off the vocabulary, it sounds cliche now like it's the only response to anything you don't like to hear.
And yes, the show was... well not that amusing.
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You try so hard - should be off the vocabulary
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It is people like you , however , who keep it on the front pages. You are so pressed . It is painful to watch . You even doubted the capacities , you are always the first to -transparently of course- shade in every opportunity. So so so pressed.
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Member Since: 8/10/2010
Posts: 4,708
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Quote:
Originally posted by Riverwide
This person should NOT be reviewing anything music-related for a living if they can't hear the tunes on the BTW album. That really is beyond sad.
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About the author: He has written for The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, the Economist and the National Theatre. He is a regular guest on CNBC and has been interviewed on the BBC World Service and other TV and radio channels.
Well I don't think it is up to us to judge. But if you don't like an opinion, don't treat it as fake.
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Banned
Member Since: 6/28/2012
Posts: 192
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Oh wow. A Madonna stan posted this. How original.
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Member Since: 5/27/2010
Posts: 37,025
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It made no difference to the majority of Little Monsters, who worshipped their cult-goddess. But as an ex-cultist myself, I felt disappointed: Gaga's moment has gone, snapped up by the musically forward, less portentous, more fun-loving and infinitely more tuneful Rihanna.
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Haha I see.
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Member Since: 8/29/2012
Posts: 2,594
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BTWB is amazing, however i found Monster Ball tour better and more iconic, it's just my opinion, but she's snatching weaves next year bitchez! why pressed stans try to drag her down so bad, she's not going anywhere....
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Banned
Member Since: 6/28/2012
Posts: 192
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Quote:
Originally posted by MrPeanut
Haha I see.
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I'm sorry but the manner in which this journalist expressed himself just sounds pressed rather than objective.
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Member Since: 2/22/2012
Posts: 3,081
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Glad you shared your opinion, Josh Spero 
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Member Since: 8/10/2010
Posts: 4,708
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Quote:
Originally posted by torturebysolitude
I'm sorry but the manner in which this journalist expressed himself just sounds pressed rather than objective.
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All the world that thinks that BTW Ball and Gaga are over exaggerated by her fans are pressed? Let people breathe.
All the comments here are pressed, why can't you accept an opinion?
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Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 7,895
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Thinks Rihanna is "infinitely more tuneful", "musically forward" and Gaga is over during a sold out 55k stadium show? Seems like an opinion we should invest in.
Is he sure those people rushing around the back were actual "fans"? They obviously didn't own BTW if they couldn't name Scheisse or Marry The Night (depending when they left).
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Banned
Member Since: 6/28/2012
Posts: 192
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ale-Alejandro
All the world that thinks that BTW Ball and Gaga are over exaggerated by her fans are pressed? Let people breathe.
All the comments here are pressed, why can't you accept an opinion?
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I can accept an opinion thats well formulated and doesn't rely on "ex-cultist" cynicism. This doesn't sound objective but rather a review by someone who already thought of her as "overdue". This is apparent by his mentioning Rihanna as more forward thinking and tuneful lol It sounds as bitter as you feeling the need to post this.
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Member Since: 6/18/2012
Posts: 4,588
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at first when i saw the user name "ale-alejandro" i was like 
at last when i saw Maddonna in the sig,i was like  expected
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Member Since: 4/25/2012
Posts: 3,085
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If I PAID the amount she's charging and she didn't perform a full set, I would be ****ing furious.
In honesty I only want to see her perform Telephone but the fact MTN and alejandro were cut? Those two are two of my favourite songs too.
We love you and you're famous but damn, maintain a level of professionalism, especially in the wake of 50k people!
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Member Since: 8/29/2012
Posts: 2,594
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Quote:
Originally posted by torturebysolitude
I can accept an opinion thats well formulated and doesn't rely on "ex-cultist" cynicism. This doesn't sound objective but rather a review by someone who already thought of her as "overdue". This is apparent by his mentioning Rihanna as more forward thinking and tuneful lol It sounds as bitter as you feeling the need to post this.
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I know right? Rihanna as more forward thinking.... 
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Member Since: 4/22/2012
Posts: 15,844
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I did leave before "Marry the Night" and "Edge of Glory"
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Mess. The whole review is a mess
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Member Since: 8/10/2010
Posts: 4,708
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Quote:
Originally posted by toanythingtaboo
Thinks Rihanna is "infinitely more tuneful", "musically forward" and Gaga is over during a sold out 55k stadium show? Seems like an opinion we should invest in.
Is he sure those people rushing around the back were actual "fans"? They obviously didn't own BTW if they couldn't name Scheisse or Marry The Night (depending when they left).
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is it a crime to go to a concert without being a fan? I saw the tour of Gaga myself and I wasn't a fan. The argument was not really valid.
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Originally posted by torturebysolitude
I can accept an opinion thats well formulated and doesn't rely on "ex-cultist" cynicism. This doesn't sound objective but rather a review by someone who already thought of her as "overdue". This is apparent by his mentioning Rihanna as more forward thinking and tuneful lol It sounds as bitter as you feeling the need to post this.
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Well your personal stance does not have to match with the critics. Once again, if you don't like it, leave. But calling other people pressed cuz they don't share your opinion? Who's the pressed one in this case?
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