The Monster Ball

Back at the end of November 2009, the artist known as Lady Gaga started a world tour: The Monster Ball. Those of us that proudly bare the Little Monster pet name, are aware of Gaga's love affair with Horror since the beginning. So the portrayal of The Fame Monster on stage was meant to be a gore fest.

After 18 months, 5 singles/videos, one major re-vamp, a remix album and some ongoing tweaks; The Monster Ball landed in México to end its run. On May 3rd, Guadalajara (the second largest city in the country) gave a warm and wet welcome to Gaga. About 30,000 souls (not only from México, but at least from various countries south of the border) were ready to witness the show of one of the greatest music stars of the moment, and a true artist (one that is not afraid to show her inspirations)

At 7:10 Lady Starlight took the stage with her amazing DJ set, of course there were some really puzzled by her act, but we know those aren't little monsters at all.

Then at 8:PM sharp, Semi Precious Weapons gave us a taste of that PunkGlamAmazonia attitude, again if you were still expecting the Scissor Sisters, I know they're good but SPW screams Gaga, it's the perfect opening act for the Ball.

And then at 9:02...



Finally indeed! the ball was in full heat. At this point I know the ball by heart, with the demos and studio version, so I was thrilled to hear it, see it and feel it LIVE!

By the end of Just Dance I noticed some strange lights to my right: was it a rainbow, a unicorn, a twister??? no there was the lightnings announcing a summer storm, and right at the first interlude,



It started to rain, when she walked the runway in Telephone, she got wet and she didn't care she did the full show, dripping in sweat, acid rain, and little monster's love.

The piano/acoustic section bring the second surprise of the evening: Born This Way (Piano Version) and Americano!!! instead of Brown Eyes and Speechless.

But also, something I didn't knew at the moment, that since she started to do Born This Way at the end, she retired So Happy I Could Die with the Twister interlude (in a very S&S-Madonnesque round screen) and the amazing living dress...



During Teeth her headset started to fail, so at the end, with a regular mic, she kept singing and improv'-jam-extended version of the song!

Instead of the Manifesto interlude they played a new mix of the Raven/Forest interlude with no video...

And by the end of the night, when some people were leaving, right after Bad Romance, she performed Born This Way and Judas!

At 11:22 the ball was over, still raining we're graciously asked by the police to leave the stadium, so even those of us that didn't get wet during the concert, got some rain afterward.

In short,

The Good: New songs, Gaga loving the energy and the rain, the whole show!!!

The Bad: I chicken' out and didn't bring my camera, and my cellphone died a day before, so only really LQ pics



The Ugly: The attitude not only of the police men and the security guards at the end, but the scenesters that were there drinking, smoking and doing their own show