Do you suppose the birthers will go after Lady Gaga next?
Exactly which planet she was born on remains open to debate. Yet this much we know: She was “Born This Way.”
The otherworldly pop singer with a flair for pushing buttons brought her Monster Ball Tour back to Cleveland on Wednesday night at The Q. She headlined a sold-out concert there in July.
The arena was packed again with 14,500 fans for this return engagement. Far be it from the former Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta to let us simply forget about her while Charlie Sheen hogs the headlines.
From the moment Gaga, 25, made her grand entrance to tune of “Dance in the Dark,” she commanded your undivided attention.
Too bad she didn’t go on until 10:30 p.m., well behind schedule. A spokeswoman for concert promoter Live Nation had no explanation for the delay.
At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the infamous meat dress that Gaga wore to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards will go on display as part of the new “Women Who Rock” exhibit, opening May 13.
Not to worry – she brought lots of other fun outfits to wear onstage, accessorized with everything from NFL-size shoulder pads to a “Flying Nun”-style headdress.
Compared to the cyber-disco pomp and neon circumstance of Gaga’s performance, a certain wedding Friday morning at Westminster Abbey promises to be a quiet little affair.
The spectacle was basically a replay of last year’s show, with “Just Dance,” “Telephone,” “Alejandro” and other elaborate song-and-dance numbers arranged into different acts to create a pseudo-musical. Think “West Side Story” meets “A Clockwork Orange,” co-directed by Busby Berkeley, Andy Warhol and David Bowie.
The only new tune was “Born This Way,” Gaga’s hit anthem about acceptance. She belted out a stripped-down, gospel-flavored version of the song in the middle of the show, accompanying herself on piano and proving that her talents aren’t limited to razzle-dazzle.
The similarity between “Born This Way” and the Madonna oldie “Express Yourself” has done little to dispel nagging criticisms that Gaga is merely Madge 2.0. We’ll see if Gaga can prove the naysayers wrong with her new album, also titled “Born This Way,” out May 23.
In the meantime, heed the immortal words of Bob Dylan: “He not busy being born is busy dying.”
Despite a dearth of fresh material, Gaga reinvented herself throughout the night, morphing from video vixen to cabaret biker chick to keytar-playing priestess. Clearly, she understands that any postmodern celebrity not busy being reborn again and again to appease our 24-7 infotainment cycle is busy hastening career death.
Love her or not, Gaga carries on (and on and on) as if freedom from being boring were a birthright. And in a pop-culture landscape littered with cookie-cutter flashes in the pan, that’s a good thing.
Even if she is a Martian.
SET LIST:
Dance in the Dark
Glitter and Grease
Just Dance
Beautiful, Dirty, Rich
The Fame
LoveGame
Boys Boys Boys
Money Honey
Telephone
Born This Way (piano version)
You and I
Monster
Teeth
Alejandro
Poker Face
Paparazzi
Bad Romance
ENCORE:
Born This Way
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