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Celeb News: Positive ARTRAVE Reviews continue to swarm the web
Member Since: 7/9/2010
Posts: 42,506
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The new mother of invention and heir apparent to Madonna (who, incidentally, is still alive) might be doing something that's been done before ... but maybe never this good.
In stretching the boundaries of what pop music can be with a jaw-dropping inthe-round stage production that reached well past the centre ice line, Lady Gaga thrilled a capacity Saddledome crowd which had waited months for the show of shows — an absolute visual extravaganza and assault on the senses.
The dozen or so dancers, outrageous costumes and five-piece backing band served as the energy and human backdrop for the stunning array of sights, sounds and movement.
"Calgary-eeee, I want to see everybody up on their (expletive deleted) feet!" she bellowed to the vibrating throng. "Look at your amazing outfits ... your amazing spirit."
The former Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta's voice was big, full, clear and powerful through a medley of Just Dance, Pokerface and Telephone.
High-energy interpretations of Paparazzi and Do What You Want preceded a rare (on this night), strippeddown approach during Born This Way, in which only sparse lighting and a piano accompanied her voice — it was a pivotal moment in the set. For all of her pomp and circumstance, the spectacle never overshadows Gaga's voice, otherworldly talent and drive to succeed. Although there weren't many, this was easily the most authentic and sincere moment of the evening.
A Lady Gaga performance is nothing if not a lesson in never-a-dull-moment concert presentation.
Unfair, perhaps, but by the time Gaga hit the stage no one remembered either.
LADY GAGA
At the Dome
*** 1/2 (Out of five)
http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/05/26...fb8c1ee3c137d8
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 15,734
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Quote:
Originally posted by Remixed
The new mother of invention and heir apparent to Madonna (who, incidentally, is still alive) might be doing something that's been done before ... but maybe never this good.
The 28-year-old New York City pop and dance diva's return to Calgary last night was merely the first in a number of high-profile pop, rock and country concerts set to invade our fine city this summer . . . and the bar has been set high — if not in substance, at least in spectacle.
In stretching the boundaries of what pop music can be with a jaw-dropping inthe-round stage production that reached well past the centre ice line, Lady Gaga thrilled a capacity Saddledome crowd which had waited months for the show of shows — an absolute visual extravaganza and assault on the senses.
Appearing on an incredible fantasy, uh, well, sort of ... ice kingdom neon nightclub stage with multiple arms and catwalks, and opening with a video and vocal suite which included the title cut from ARTPOP as well as G.U.Y., Donatella and Fashion, the dizzying pace of the show was perfect for monsters with short attention spans, and easy escapism for the uninitiated as well as curious onlookers.
Not to mention, the healthy contingent of patient parents with excited kids in attendance.
The dozen or so dancers, outrageous costumes and five-piece backing band served as the energy and human backdrop for the stunning array of sights, sounds and movement.
"Calgary-eeee, I want to see everybody up on their (expletive deleted) feet!" she bellowed to the vibrating throng. "Look at your amazing outfits ... your amazing spirit."
The first big costume change of the evening took place prior to Venus and manicure, the evening's host switching from the tightest of tight gold sparkle body suits to a seashell bikini. Uh ... cool!
The former Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta's voice was big, full, clear and powerful through a medley of Just Dance, Pokerface and Telephone.
The delirious crowd, in which Calgary's alternative lifestyle community was well-represented (fishnet stockings, gold lame tights, brightly coloured wigs, wedding and prom dresses, feather boas and high heels seemed to be the uniform of choice — of course, that was just the boys) went wild, although seeming a little miffed at the abbreviated versions of their heroine's biggest songs.
High-energy interpretations of Paparazzi and Do What You Want preceded a rare (on this night), strippeddown approach during Born This Way, in which only sparse lighting and a piano accompanied her voice — it was a pivotal moment in the set. For all of her pomp and circumstance, the spectacle never overshadows Gaga's voice, otherworldly talent and drive to succeed. Although there weren't many, this was easily the most authentic and sincere moment of the evening.
But back to the show and the spectacle ... now appearing on a hot pink bed, adorned in a green wig, black leather pants and a sports bra, she teased the crowd with Sex Dreams and Mary Jane Holland.
A highly choreographed onstage costume change and Gaga's otherworldly dance troupe working overtime led to Applause, Artrave and Swine.
Fans may have voiced that they wanted more of the older material, but no one went home disappointed.
A Lady Gaga performance is nothing if not a lesson in never-a-dull-moment concert presentation.
Opening the show was the singing synthesizer Hatsune Miku (which used Yamaha Technologies Vocaloid 2 and 3 singing synthesizing technology) and an actual human being, Lady Starlight, who is a long time Gaga collaborator, New York techno diva and touring partner.
The 3D visuals and Japanimation-inspired humanoid was actually ridiculously cool, while Starlight attempted unsuccessfully in getting the massive crowd moving with old and new school New York dance club vibes.
Hey, it's a hockey rink, not a dance club . . .
Unfair, perhaps, but by the time Gaga hit the stage no one remembered either.
LADY GAGA
At the Dome
*** 1/2 (Out of five)
http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/05/26...fb8c1ee3c137d8
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Omg the comments 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 15,734
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New review
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In support of her third studio album, Lady Gaga is bringing the ArtPop experience to her fans with a 77-date concert, artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball, sponsored by Absolut Vodka. The tour, which will crisscross across North America before going overseas in mid-August, is Gaga's most frenetic live experience yet.
In what she described to Out magazine as a '90s warehouse party, Gaga and her team of backup dancers bounce on catwalks that stretch over a wave of fans throwing everything imaginable at the singer.
Because it's hard to appreciate just how much goes into pulling off such an event, we break down the concert experience by the numbers:
21,346 labor hours went into the design and construction of the stage, which includes catwalks, an intergrated Absolut ARTPOP lounge in the middle of the floor, and pods with additional props and rooms for costume changes.
478 feet of air hosing, which inflates a garden on stage during the show.
110 feet of runway spanning from the main stage over the audience on the arena floor. The runways connect to several platforms leaving fans guessing just where to stand on the floor. All the runways are visible from underneath.
26 people, who get to sit in Absolut Vodka's ARTPOP lounge, which is situated in the middle of the arena floor just below Gaga's piano and features a full-service bar during the show. Among those who get to sit in the lounge are two fans chosen by the sponsor for "daring to transform."
21 trucks, which hauls everything from the stage to the costumes from venue to venue.
15 inflatable trees, which sprout up on stage during "Venus" creating a bouncy garden in the middle of the show.
14 dancers, including several shirtless men, who do everything from voguing to shooting canons of teddybears out into the audience.
14 wardrobe changes — one of which happens on stage — with the fastest outfit swap taking only 30 seconds.
3 hours to break down the stage, which is carted in less than two days to the next tour stop.
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- http://www.out.com/entertainment/pop...ve-artpop-ball
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Member Since: 8/22/2011
Posts: 18,944
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Lady Gaga wows fans in San Jose
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Lady Gaga brought us to her world.
"Welcome to Venus," she said to the nearly 14,000 fans who filled the SAP Center. "This is the planet that I have hailed from since my birth."
That pretty much explained everything, from all the outrageous outfits and antics to the bizarre concert tours and public appearances. Lady Gaga finally confirmed what we've suspected all along:
She's from outer space.
And she has super powers. Most notable, she can delight earthlings like few other pop stars on any planet. It doesn't always happen, but it certainly did on Tuesday night in San Jose.
The vocalist's latest road show, artRave: The ARTPOP Ball, is an absolute smash. It's light years better than her previous outing, the bloated, convoluted Born This Way Ball Tour, which touched down at the same San Jose venue in early 2013. And it's nearly as spellbinding as the earlier Monster Ball Tour, which was one of the best pure pop-music spectacles of the last 10 years.
This turn of events shouldn't come as a surprise, given that Gaga has long ranked as one of the savviest entertainers in the game.
She made a ton of mistakes on the Born This Way Ball, but repeated none of them on ARTPOP. The former was an overly long affair, weighed down by complicated theatrics and heavy-handed themes that detracted attention away from the music.
This time around, Gaga is offering up an expertly paced, streamlined show -- clocking in nearly 40 minutes shorter than the Born This Way Ball. The theatrics are fun, yet comparatively straightforward, and they never overshadow the music. There's a strong focus on connecting with the crowd, which is really what Gaga does better than anything else.
The set design was marvelous. Gaga has obviously noticed the fervor around Disney's "Frozen" and has decided to create her own winter wonderland. Let's just say that Elsa would probably be envious.
The main stage is designed to look like a giant igloo, which houses her live band, and there's a piano encased in icy crystals. Raised walkways run above the arena floor, allowing the star and her fellow dancers to boogie in the sky.
Gaga opened the roughly 100-minute show with the title track to "ARTPOP," her chart-topping third studio album from last year. She then continued right through five more "ARTPOP" offerings -- "G.U.Y.," "Donatella," "Venus," "Fashion!" and "Manicure." Each of the tunes sounded better live than they do on record.
"I want you to have the time of your life tonight," Gaga told the crowd early in the evening.
She certainly did her part to make that happen. Moving from the "ARTPOP" material, Gaga began to unleash such longtime fan favorites as "Poker Face," "Telephone" and "Just Dance." She also connected with her adoring fans -- lovingly nicknamed "Little Monsters" -- with a type of sincerity that is rare in the entertainment business.
She gave several pep talks, all of the "I'm OK, You're OK" variety, and went out of her way to comfort the crowd. She complimented one audience member for wearing a Joy Division shirt -- which is surely something worth complimenting -- and read a fan letter out loud.
"Welcome to a place where we judge no one," Gaga said.
Of course, Gaga is well known for delivering one big shocker per tour.
During Monster Ball, she battled a giant fish creature by shooting flames from her undergarments. Then there was the crazy birth scene -- where "baby" Gaga appeared from a giant inflatable torso -- in the Born This Way Ball. The current tour's talker comes late in the show, as Gaga strips to nearly nothing while making a costume change right before our eyes.
Yet, that wasn't the evening's defining moment. That came when Gaga left the special effects behind and simply sat at the piano to perform a stunning solo version of "Born This Way."
It was -- just like Gaga herself -- simply out of this world.
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http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_...-fans-san-jose
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Member Since: 4/4/2014
Posts: 6,415
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These reviews 
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Member Since: 1/3/2014
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It's nice to hear people commend the tour even if they don't necessary like the album, but damn, does a single reviewer like this album?
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
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Member Since: 5/5/2012
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Quote:
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The vocalist's latest road show, artRave: The ARTPOP Ball, is an absolute smash. It's light years better than her previous outing, the bloated, convoluted Born This Way Ball Tour, which touched down at the same San Jose venue in early 2013.
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OMG, I remember his Born This Way Ball review. He ****ing dragged it and even wrote an article later about monsters threatening him on Twitter. 
Really glad he enjoyed this one, though. 
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Member Since: 7/9/2010
Posts: 42,506
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The San Jose review 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
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The good sis Gags shutting the haters and their antics DOWNE
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Member Since: 7/9/2010
Posts: 42,506
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It's an artpop extravaganza as Lady Gaga performs in A.C.
There's never been anything subtle about Lady Gaga, and fans weren't complaining as she brought her infectious music and over-the-top antics to Boardwalk Hall for a 90-minute show Saturday night.
From the opening strains of "Artpop," which saw the singer emerge onto the stage through an elevator in the floor, to the closing notes of "Gypsy," the slender blonde hitmaker staged a spectacle that the Atlantic City crowd eagerly embraced.
Gaga, or Stefani Germanotta as she was known while growing up in New York City, has always been as much a performance artist as she is a musician, but Saturday's show demonstrated that there's more to this entertainer than meat dresses and other publicity stunts as she ran through a nonstop setlist that included most of the songs from her latest disc, "Artpop," plus a generous sampling of her biggest hits. There were high-energy versions of "Poker Face," "Telephone," "Paparazzi" and "Bad Romance" while the crowd-pleaser "Born This Way," was presented as an understated solo piece with Gaga on the piano, alternately singing and talking to her crowd of "little monsters," as she's dubbed her fans.
Gaga, being Gaga, presented a show more than a concert. The theme of her "artrave: The Artpop Ball" is intended to call to mind the rave scene and warehouse parties that sprang up in New York in the 1990s.The set - a new one that was unveiled Saturday in Atlantic City, the singer said - was complex, with catwalks, platforms and a sandcastle-like structure that resembled a cross between a middle eastern skyline and Luke Skywalker's moisture farm on the desert planet Tatooine.
With the dancing and the pounding electronic beat, there wasn't a lot of emphasis put on the singer's vocals. But Gaga proved that she can belt them out. "Manicure," a rocking, bluesy number, showed just how impressive she can be when she steps up to the mic and let's her voice take a turn in the spotlight.
Gaga's a huge star - she's sold an estimated 27 million albums and grossed more than $300 million while touring, according to Billboard. But she hasn't forgotten the folks she worked with as an emerging artist.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/l...a4bcf887a.html
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Member Since: 7/9/2010
Posts: 42,506
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Lady Reigns
The pop queen from New York City, who frequented Atlantic City with friends during her pre-superstar days, had Boardwalk Hall wanting for more.
ATLANTIC CITY — Probably at every one of the nearly 80 worldwide stops on her artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball concert tour — which played to a capacity crowd at Boardwalk Hall on Saturday night, June 28 — there are concert-goers who just want to find out what all the hype is about surrounding Lady Gaga. How did she get this big and for what reason?
What is also almost a certainty is that, at every one of those 80 worldwide stops, she adds extensively to her list of “Little Monsters,” or those who comprise her fan base. She is an ultra-talented singer, songwriter, musician and showman, with a little bit of nearly everything going on during her performances. The 28-year-old wants fans to be having as much fun as she apparently is having, and metaphorically grabs them by the scruffs of their necks and drags them into her world.
There are elements of hard rock to Lady Gaga’s pop-music vibe, as she is backed up by a five-piece band that can seriously bring it, but it’s the non-stop flamboyantly sequined outfits (one of which she is depicted on the large-screens changing into between songs), the 20-something dancers who participate, in varying capacities, in all songs, the props and stage setup that has catwalks and platforms coming off the main stage, and confetti, some resembling large flower pedals, being constantly blasted throughout the concert hall during her show.
One particularly stirring number was “Born This Way” (the title track from her 2011 studio album), which she performed solo on piano Saturday night. The song is a tribute to people being themselves, and a protest to those who put others down (particularly those in the LGBT community, for which Gaga is a major advocate).
http://www.atlanticcityweekly.com/ar...265243731.html
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
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Member Since: 3/2/2014
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Not exactly glowing reviews coming in from Boston.....
https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/mus...SiO/story.html
Lady Gaga brings usual spectacle but hollow performance
What happens when a platinum-selling artist goes on tour behind her least successful album, the first one not to yield a handful of hits? That was the question going into Lady Gaga’s show at the TD Garden on Monday night.
No pop star is a consistent hitmaker, but Gaga’s run in the sun has been impressive since emerging in 2008 with anthems (“Just Dance,” “Poker Face”) that helped define the pop landscape. “ARTPOP,” released last year to mostly tepid reviews, stalled on the charts, and there has been a noticeable lack of buzz surrounding her tour — and around Gaga, in general.
Some of that lack of enthusiasm seeped into the first half of her Garden performance, even with a full house of Little Monsters, as her fans are called, roaring in delight and dressed in versions of Gaga’s garish guises.
It was hard to pinpoint what was off during the first portion, which felt hollow as Gaga skimmed from her latest album and treated the new songs as accessories. Her heavy reliance on backing tracks didn’t help matters. Neither did her choice of opening acts, the lovable but one-note Korean girl group Crayon Pop and the relentlessly tedious DJ set by Lady Starlight.....
(Click on the above link to read the rest)
http://bostonherald.com/entertainmen...to_go_gaga_for
Latest tour nothing to go Gaga for
Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters deserve a spectacle they’ll tell their little monsters about in 20 years. Last night’s TD Garden show wasn’t it.
Gaga’s glory is showing cracks. New album “Artpop” hasn’t sold well and generated a single smash (“Applause”). Last month scandal hit when a snippet of the “Do What U Want” video — a collaboration with two men dogged by sexual impropriety allegations, R. Kelly and Terry Richardson — surfaced that many argued promoted rape.
The ArtRave tour’s stop at the Garden saw those chinks hitting her Monster fan base. The arena was packed, but the evening lacked energy: fewer kids, fewer insane/awesome outfits, and (worst of all) Gaga relied on more vocal backing tracks than Britney......
It’s hard to pinpoint what was off.
The set (Miami Beach-neon-meets-“Star Trek”), dancers (Miami Beach-neon-meets-Munchkin-Technicolor) and costumes (I liked the S&M octopus the best) work. When Gaga wasn’t being supported by tapes, she chatted lovingly, genuinely with the crowd. But as a whole, it didn’t feel special.
Gaga has a rare talent, so I hope I’m wrong, but last night felt like her moment was ending, slipping through her desperate fingers.
“I hope you always remember this,” Gaga told the crowd.
The die-hards will. The other half of the crowd is already looking toward Beyonce, Katy Perry or Lorde’s upcoming concerts.
(Click on the above link to read the full review)
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Member Since: 5/5/2012
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The transparency while completely ignoring the positive parts 
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This being Gaga, there was plenty of spectacle — see Gaga brandishing a fake guitar and a giant nest of equally fake hair; hear her read fan mail from the stage and reduce the diehards to tears — and there were singalongs galore (“Bad Romance,” “Just Dance,” “Paparazzi”).
When she didn’t have to, she hit her stride. With “Born This Way,” she got to the core of what makes her such a natural entertainer: Beneath all that shock value beats the heart of a nurturing and kind person. She turned that ode to self-acceptance into a torch song about the human condition. Alone at a piano, she recited its verses with bluesy inflections and slowly so that the words sank in, peppered with daily affirmations: “When you leave tonight, be good to one another. We’re all we have.”
That is perhaps Gaga’s greatest talent. She believes in herself, in her fans, and in the importance of that relationship. On a parting note, she brought onstage a fan and dubbed her “my gypsy princess Jamie.” In matching weaves and sparkly ensembles, they sang “Gypsy” together: Gaga into the microphone, with Jamie by her side and the entire venue in her pocket.
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To be fair, much of the show killed. Remember this is Gaga, and bad Gaga is good pop.
The night started slow (the new album’s title track doesn’t have the gravitas to open an art-pop pageant), but eventually the hits took hold. For five years, she ruled Top 40, and those songs thrilled: “Poker Face,” “Paparazzi,” “Bad Romance,” “Applause.”
As with past tours, Gaga shined brightest on her own. When she played piano and belted out “Born this Way” and “Gypsy” alone at the end of the runway running out to the middle of arena, she had so much charisma.
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Member Since: 5/27/2010
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
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Quote:
Originally posted by MrPeanut
Medonsters are so sad.
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!!!
They try so hard but always end up embarrassing themselves. 
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Member Since: 3/2/2014
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Quote:
Originally posted by MrPeanut
Medonsters are so sad.
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Originally posted by MetalHausOfJosh
!!!
They try so hard but always end up embarrassing themselves. |
Don't shoot the messenger guys!
The headlines to both of those reviews are negative!!
Also I clearly stated that you had to click on the links to read the full articles...
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Member Since: 4/10/2012
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The praise
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