One of the many subtexts of this sweary performance is to prove that Artpop isn’t a popflop, and songs such as the electro-soul Do What U Want have been thoroughly turbocharged. Hearts momentarily sink as she declares: “If you’ve just come for the hits, go home!” But she plays them – Just Dance, Bad Romance, Poker Face and the rest, too.
When she’s alone at the piano, addiction song Dope and a torch reworking of Sonny Bono’s Bang Bang affirm her newfound credentials as the formidable jazz singer whose album of duets with Tony Bennett is currently topping the charts in the US. The most extraordinary moment comes when she movingly reads aloud a letter from a young gay fan, who joins her with his boyfriend as she sings Born This Way through hugs and tears. Gaga has often been accused of being all artifice and no heart, but tonight’s show is a powerful statement from a star who refuses to be pinned down or written off.
Devoted Little Monsters came to worship at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena last night. But Lady Gaga's performance was as much inspirational speaker as pop sensation
She then hits us with the golden trilogy of “Just Dance”, “Telephone” and “Poker Face” - which sound dynamic and precise yet also fiery and propulsive. Although nothing matches the explosiveness of “You and I”.
While artRAVE is loud, colourful and frequently emblematic of feel-good, throwaway party times, it seems at the heart of this gargantuan, intangible production that Gaga is trying to forge a deeper connection. For the devoted and infatuated it seems to be effective, for the rest of us it seems merely like a meticulously crafted pop show.
Lady Gaga arrives through a trap door in a cloud of dry ice wearing a glitter swimsuit and golden feathery spider wings surrounded by goosestepping cyber strippers while a live band pump out throbbing electro rock. Is this a pop concert, fashion parade or performance art happening? Gaga has long aimed at a combination of all three, and her current tour comes closer to pulling that off than ever before.
You might think it would be hard to maintain a sense of artistic persecution if you are one of the most successful pop stars on the planet but one thing you could never accuse Lady Gaga of is a sense of proportion. The sense of absolute commitment, sensual bombardment and imaginative bravado in Gaga's artRAVE represent her very own triumph of the will.
These are amazing reviews. 4/5 stars from the biggest UK publications. I made this thread because I felt they deserved recognition.
