ArtRave vs. Enigma Reception

[Suspiria 10,683]

So I think these two shows are her most comparable in many ways. The sparkly, spacey aesthetic direction, the less ambitious productions and arguably poorer executions (compared to TMB, BTWB, JWT).

However they have received vastly different receptions from the GP and critics.

Artrave received some really harsh or generally unimpressed reviews:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lady-gagas-live-artflop-nyc-ghosts-and-flowers-244744/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.standard.co.uk/go/london/music/lady-gaga-artrave-the-ARTPOP-ball-o2-arena-music-review-gaga-has-settled-for-being-a-conventional-9815216.html%3famp

https://lasvegasweekly.com/ae/music/2014/jul/22/concert-review-lady-gaga-artrave-straightforward/

 

Enigma on the other hand has recieved glowing reviews overall:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/review-lady-gaga-las-vegas-residency-opening-night-773628/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/variety.com/2018/film/news/review-lady-gaga-las-vegas-residency-opening-1203096661/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/ew.com/concerts/2018/12/29/lady-gaga-vegas-enigma-review/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5c26fe29e4b0407e9082be49/amp

 

Many critics claimed Gaga had lost her spark with artrave. That she had become "run of the mill", that she's become a "conventional megastar", that the production and costumes were cheap, that she didn't believe in the music and wasn't even trying.

Enigma has been described as the total opposite. The production and costumes are lauded, everything is described as "over the top", "unconventional", no one questions her authenticity, creativity or performing abilities.

Personally I can't help but feel that Enigma is far more deserving of the criticism than artrave. Enigma is essentially a cheap knockoff of her past shows - she is resting on the laurels of her past success without giving anything new. The "craziness" feels forced, like a charicature of her past self. The production is incredibly shoddy, and the whole thing just feels like a moneygrab - it's clear very little thought and care has gone into it. Understandably, she was preoccupied with ASIB. And the creative directors confirmed this in interviews, that she was too busy to give much time to it. Should she really have signed to begin the residency right in the middle of ASIB promo if she didn't have time for it?

 

Artrave on the other hand just felt like a real passion project. Yes it was incohesive, and some of the costumes did look a little cheap, but the whole thing was just overflowing with original Gaga ideas. She was very clearly incredibly passionate about it and dedicated to her album, and it really came through in her performances. Her speeches may have been a little cringey at parts but they felt very genuine and honest.

 

 

The success and admiration that she has (very deservingly) earned from ASIB seem to have given her a "free pass" - anything she does now will be praised to the heavens.

The poor reception of the artrave was obviously a reflection of the very different relationship she had with the GP at the time, and it's a shame to look back and see they were unwilling to appreciate what was so great about her at that time.

 

 

While it is of course wonderful that she no longer faces such harsh judgement and is praised for her talent, kindness and skill, I just hope that this newfound "untouchable" status doesn't result in her allowing her creative standards to slide and producing more half-hearted shows...

[ANVEEROY 61,118]

Sorry, but I felt Artrave more personal and artistically glorious! 

[AJRocketMan 2,684]

ArtRave’s criticism was underserved. This tour had her best set list and was her most intimate. Her energy and interaction with the audience was amazing. Sure, the main stage was much smaller and simpler than her previous tours, but she made up for it with the catwalk, which is where she did most of her performing anyway. You didn’t have to fight people to get to the front, and if anything was seen as a disadvantage; no other artist has done that before or since, even Gaga.

It’s not better than the Born This Way Ball, but it’s just as fun and satisfying. The use of PARTYNAUSEOUS as an interlude was awesome. The octopus costume is one of her best ever. It also featured her best pre-show music (Dog Blood). I hope she uses an extensive catwalk again for her next tour or next Vegas show. Even a revamp of Enigma!

[voidfigure 1,612]

Here we go again  😂

Well, artRave got bad reviews mostly from people that weren't there, in my opinion. 

I really think she's passionate about Enigma too, but she looks very tired when performing it.

(Off topic, @Suspiria judging by your username and profile picture you are a Dario Argento fan, you have great taste: I am like his biggest fan and I spoke with him last saturday at a festival!)

[lgaga1fan 2,305]

The fact that half of y'all ain't even gonna see Enigma and are gonna do the most to tear it down every other minute.

It's an expensive show.

There's lots of pyrotechnics and a lot of time was put into the stage design and lighting rigs. 

The lighting choices and the quality of the props and lighting clearly show that she put a lot of effort into this project.

 

 

[Nino 12]

I attended both tours. artRAVE had a bouncy castle, some blow up trees, minimal visuals, and a plastic keyboard. Her band was stuck in Narnia and her dancers were desperately spread out while she spent most of the time on the catwalks. Every other Gaga show makes huge compromises. Born This Way Ball and artRAVE were literally the opposite of versatile, no real backdrop screens, band playing to nobody or completely separate from the action(this was a problem at the joanne tour and tmb 2.0 at times too), and no room for changing the setup like most tours do over their course because she made giant castle structures that took up the entire stage. Joanne's stage was dynamic as **** and it made for the best concerts I've ever been to(I see virtually every mega-tour so that's high praise) but she literally couldnt put anything but a guitar stand on those stages because of the layout, a huge compromise for the singer known for bringing out tentacle monsters on stage. TMB 2.0 even had some compromises, she had all those iconic set pieces but other than those the stage was just a screen and some platforms for her band, she compromised on the whole setup to make stuff like the car, fountain, and monster, fit.

 

Enigma felt much more cohesive and complete. Gaga had much longer to plan it than any other tour she's ever done and it's apparent when you're there in person. Everything just fits. Her dancers, band, props, and her all exist in the same space, there's never a moment where she's sitting on a metal claw in the corner of the arena while nothing else happens. The entire show is firing on all cylinders the entire time, the entire space is utilized and her entire team gets a chance to perform, making for a much more interesting show. The weird geometric staging hides the catwalks that gives her access to every inch of the stage, unlike the entire stage being covered by the staging of her past non-joanne tours. Being that the entire stage is also covered in screens, she can evoke different settings rather than staying on one note the entire time, they all fall into a futuristic, video-game like theme, but the Government Hooker act is totally different from The Fame's act. There was very little difference from ARTPOP to Applause at artRAVE because she relied on the plastic catwalks and rainbow seizure show to carry it instead. Even when Enigma does have it's gimmicks like the flying around, they're applied very carefully and she uses the entire theater space to make sure it includes the entire audience, instead of just being cool to the lucky nearest 1500 people.

[PlastiscGuy 20,886]

artRAVE > Enema

[Suspiria 10,683]

24 minutes ago, AJRocketMan said:

I hope she uses an extensive catwalk again for her next tour or next Vegas show. Even a revamp of Enigma!

The lucite catwalks were one of the best features I've ever seen on a tour stage, I don't know why they're not used in more tours in general. Not a bad seat in the house.

25 minutes ago, voidfigure said:

Here we go again  😂

Well, artRave got bad reviews mostly from people that weren't there, in my opinion. 

I really think she's passionate about Enigma too, but she looks very tired when performing it.

(Off topic, @Suspiria judging by your username and profile picture you are a Dario Argento fan, you have great taste: I am like his biggest fan and I spoke with him last saturday at a festival!)

I must confess I'm not such a fan of his more recent works... but I think I've seen all of his 70s/80s films and I love them all so much. It's so cool you met such a legend, hope you had a good conversation with him!

18 minutes ago, lgaga1fan said:

The fact that half of y'all ain't even gonna see Enigma and are gonna do the most to tear it down every other minute.

It's an expensive show.

There's lots of pyrotechnics and a lot of time was put into the stage design and lighting rigs. 

The lighting choices and the quality of the props and lighting clearly show that she put a lot of effort into this project.

Enigma is the last big piece of work she's done, Gagadaily will talk about something else when she releases something lol.

The lighting and pyrotechnics are no better than any other show, and I guarantee she had nothing to do with that anyway. And what props are you talking about, there were hardly any? The stage and creative direction was done by Eli Russell Linetz, the setlist was chosen by Michael Bearden... they both said clearly in interviews that she was super busy and the whole thing was rushed (I'll find the interviews).

 

[SHALLOW 16,252]

Enigma is just not on that level. 

[Bradley 58,913]

Why do you find the need to bash Enigma every single day?

I swear I could find like 8 posts by you in a 7-day duration saying something bad about Enigma.

Just stop. It doesn't paint you as a good critic, just yet another fan who didn't get to see the show in person.

I can assure you no one who has attended the show could say it was bad. It's almost legendary to witness that kind of visuals and professionalism exhibited by one of the biggest stars in the world.

She nailed the vocals, the visuals and lighting, the choreography was fresh and energetic, the outfits were undeservedly criticised  (only the Shallow one seems lackluster but it has sentimental values to Gaga), it was theatrical in that she acted on a night-to-night basis, there is a storyline.

Some critics called it a concert that 'began and confirmed her legacy'. Some said she was 'born to do this'. Some shaded other Vegas acts because they thought Gaga brought actual quality and masterful live vocals. Some said 'she raised the bar even higher for other Vegas acts, even  prompting some major international artists to take up Vegas residencies at the peak of their careers'. And most critics called the outfits 'outrageous' 'unique', called the set pieces and visuals 'grandiose' 'top-notch'.

These are critics who attended the show, who are you to say anything?

[Guest]

Enigma is not even a good show, im a huge Gaga fan but I wouldnt pay money to go to that show. Ive been to all Gaga concerts though and they are all amazing.

[Mikolaj 11,635]

I don't like either. At least not compared to her other tours.

I remember artRave's reception and Enigma's reception, and I feel fans hated artRave much more, Enigma's reception is rather mixed, leaning towards positive. There was a general aura of wtf when the first artRave videos appeared.

Because it's Gaga, artRave had some great ideas - the catwalk, the multiple wigs, some of the props. But the costumes were terrible, the main stage design underwhelming, and you couldn't help feeling that even though it was solid, she could do much better. It looks like many people have the same feeling with Enigma, and the argument that it's nothing we haven't seen before is a very much valid one.

[LOVEDRUG 10,582]

2 minutes ago, Bradley said:

Why do you find the need to bash Enigma every single day?

I swear I could find like 8 posts by you in a 7-day duration saying something bad about Enigma.

Just stop. It doesn't paint you as a good critic, just yet another fan who didn't get to see the show in person.

I can assure you no one who has attended the show could say it was bad. It's almost legendary to witness that kind of visuals and professionalism exhibited by one of the biggest stars in the world.

She nailed the vocals, the visuals and lighting, the choreography was fresh and energetic, the outfits were undeservedly criticised  (only the Shallow one seems lackluster but it has sentimental values to Gaga), it was theatrical in that she acted on a night-to-night basis, there is a storyline.

Some critics called it a concert that 'began and confirmed her legacy'. Some said she was 'born to do this'. Some shaded other Vegas acts because they thought Gaga brought actual quality and masterful live vocals. Some said 'she raised the bar even higher for other Vegas acts, even  prompting some major international artists to take up Vegas residencies at the peak of their careers'. And most critics called the outfits 'outrageous' 'unique', called the set pieces and visuals 'grandiose' 'top-notch'.

These are critics who attended the show, who are you to say anything?

You do not need to attend the show to critique the outfits or setlist though

[Bradley 58,913]

38 minutes ago, lgaga1fan said:

The fact that half of y'all ain't even gonna see Enigma and are gonna do the most to tear it down every other minute.

It's an expensive show.

There's lots of pyrotechnics and a lot of time was put into the stage design and lighting rigs. 

The lighting choices and the quality of the props and lighting clearly show that she put a lot of effort into this project.

 

 

THANK YOU.

I have not seen one single person who attended the show  that found it to be not worth the money or time. It was a masterful concert that I feel comfortable saying is her best show of her career.

And I hold that opinion as someone who walked into the theatre having avoided spoilers, and having laid eyes on the entirety of the experience from lights, to screens, to the people on stage moving in formation, a wholesome experience that could not be offered by videos on YouTube (for example, in Bad Romance, most fans only record Gaga from behind and they couldn't even record the dancers and lights because Gaga stood in the catwalk)

[Mikolaj 11,635]

And please quit telling people who don't like a tour that it's because they didn't attend it. artRave is my least favorite tour and the only one I attended so far. We don't need to spend several hundred $ to form an opinion.