Share your CBT impressions

[July Faro 14]

On 7/17/2022 at 4:10 PM, ChromaticEnigma said:

I found the show cool and I honestly loved everything, but I'd like some changes.

Gaga should shorten songs so she can be able to perform more songs. I'm pretty sure 911 was the only song that was shortened.

I'm also kinda unsatisfied with how she skipped 5 Chromatica songs (Plastic Doll, Sine from Above, 1000 Doves, Fun Tonight, Love Me Right). I just feel like the show would be much more complete with the full album like how BTWB had the entire album performed (with The Queen being added later on).

The setlist is kinda weird. First you start off the show with the hits, then Chromatica I, Chromatica II, Chromatica III, 2 piano acts back to back, and then SL, ROM, and HMH. It's like you start off on Earth, travel to Chromatica, and then suddenly your Chromatica trip ends at Free Woman, with a bunch of ballads afterwards. The acts should be spread out more evenly tbh.

And finally, the wig. I find nothing wrong with the wig, I actually think it suits act 1 but after that, I just don't see the vision. Don't get me wrong because I actually do love the wig, but it doesn't really scream Chromatica. It's not long and it's not colorful either.

And finally, audience interactions. I get Gaga must be very nervous since this is her first time doing a pop show in a very long time, but she just seemed very off. It felt like the show was very unfinished, me and my friends felt like the show was unfinished with the way certain aspects of the show were never used during the actual show.

Examples:

• My friends saw a harness on the right screen during the act 4 interlude on the livestreams but it was never used.
• Alejandro was rehearsed but not performed
• In stage pictures that leaked before doors opened today, there were 2 different visuals that weren't actually used during the show. (Red grid + Gaga head statue scan)
• The absense of keytars??? She literally has never NOT used a keytar for a tour before

Other than that, I really loved the show. She did a great job

Did it actually rain during ROM? I remember seeing images on Twitter of water drains on stage?

[Mirage 42]

1 hour ago, July Faro said:

Did it actually rain during ROM? I remember seeing images on Twitter of water drains on stage?

Those are not water drains, the low fog comes out of those holes. It would’ve been amazing had it been fountains ala Aphrodite ales Foiles!

[OhHenny2020 2,822]

I will say I just noticed the light up bracelets are only for the people on the floor? That’s so lame! Every other artist I’ve seen use that it’s the whole stadium. 

[Guillaume Hamon 5,572]

14 hours ago, Suspiria said:

Maybe it was just the bad livestream i watched it on, she sounded a bit pitchy and strained at times. But even if that is the case I'm sure it was just down to nerves and she will be back to usual by the next few shows

I thought she sounded way better on better quality video of sour candy compared to the Livestream so yes it's probably due to the Livestream sound.

[NATAH 31,714]

after watching some YT videos, im absolutely floored by the way the screens completely shape shift the stage by creating very realistic environments and frames around her when performing. they totally alter the atmosphere song to song!!!

[hpmcmill 1,884]

It’s fantastic from start to finish. High quality all around… and Gaga is at her best. My only small things are—

• I wish the stage did more— the flames are cool, but moving parts and such. Being lifted or levitated in the crowd. More wow factor from the set. The visuals that are there are quality though. 

•Missed opportunity during Rain on Me, not to have real water elements/fake rain, etc.  Beyoncé’s stadium tour had water effects and so did Taylor’s Reputation tour. I think it would have been really impressive. 
 

•Light up wrist bands for everyone in the audience, not just standing areas. 
 

Overall can tell Gaga worked her ass off for this show, and can’t wait to experience it live!!

[tylertremallose 1,324]

the opening video reminds me of the city interlude from the monster ball tour

[Helxig 39,662]

12 hours ago, NATAH said:

after watching some YT videos, im absolutely floored by the way the screens completely shape shift the stage by creating very realistic environments and frames around her when performing. they totally alter the atmosphere song to song!!!

That's the Intel technology correct? The same one they were pioneering around the Bowie tribute/Gaga in space times? It's very effective!

[badfaith 5,606]

12 hours ago, hpmcmill said:

• I wish the stage did more— the flames are cool, but moving parts and such. Being lifted or levitated in the crowd. More wow factor from the set. The visuals that are there are quality though. 

This! I really expected some elements to move or like the side screen open up because Joanne had those moving bridges.

[Adrenaliner 3,574]

Overall i'd rate it 8/10

+ Vocals are outstanding

+ Outfits and the interludes are stunning

+ The way she talked with us between songs (Stockholm) really made it feel personal and she cried

- The setlist has some major songs missing (paparazzi, Alejandro, SOMETHING FROM ARTPOP), but I understand the tour is for chromatica

- The production could be different and I miss some kind of a plot/storytelling, right now it is mostly just gorgeous shots of Gaga

But one of the best shows EVER

[The Fame Monster 3,372]

I saw the show last night in Stockholm. Based on that I would say that this tour is her second best yet, Born This Way Ball being the best in my opinion.

Here's a few points:

+ The intro and interludes were very Monster Ball like. But better quality and more artistic.

+ She sounded amazing live. Her vocals were top notch.

+ I loved the setlist. To me, it was perfect.

+ I loved the dark aesthetics of the stage and visuals, as well as her looks throughout the concert.

+ Her dance moves were impressive and high energy. The rock attitude was superb.

+ If this will be filmed and published to the streaming services, oh boy, it will be SO GOOD. 

A major minus:

- The front stage is so low that it was hard to see her behind the crowd in the standing area. I would say that finding a good spot from the standing area is very important with this kind of stage. 

A personal minus:

- The background of Alice was not strong enough. By that I mean that the main focus of that performance was Gaga's voice, which was great, but Alice has such a great background and instrumental, and it's such a good dance song, but there wasn't enough volume or bass, so it didn't make me dance or jump. For me that was a led down since it's one of my favourite songs. 

[Adrenaliner 3,574]

5 hours ago, The Fame Monster said:

- The background of Alice was not strong enough. By that I mean that the main focus of that performance was Gaga's voice, which was great, but Alice has such a great background and instrumental, and it's such a good dance song, but there wasn't enough volume or bass, so it didn't make me dance or jump. For me that was a led down since it's one of my favourite songs. 

Yeah I was there too and noticed the same thing. In fact the sound was pretty low and even though I was pretty close to the stage the music could have been louder. 

[Noelle 207]

Bumping this thread (hope that’s ok!) as a place to leave my Arnhem Chromatica experience and thoughts, including logistics and hope to read some other peoples experiences. The after-concert sadness is kicking in!

IT WAS AMAZING, but also logistically a mess. As you read through that know that the concert itself really outshines any negative experience x100. I’ll share my experience with details, for people with anxiety who like to overprepare like me haha!

-CONTAINS SPOILERS-

Spoiler

 

I had a normal (not ee) Golden Circle ticket and we arrived around 4pm to the venue (we were a bit delayed). Got the Babylon merch T-shirt- love it- nothing has changed about merch by the way- still the same T-shirts (I overheard people asking the merch stand if this was unofficial merch LOL) For the merch fans perhaps good to know, the Arnhem sweater was sold out already when I got to the venue.

The portable toilets were horrifying, with long lines, and there was no toilet paper so we just went to the bushes (I brought a toilet roll from home, recommend, and easy to make friends with 😌)

The line was a bit messy, the crowd managers addressed us as “Golden Circle Early Entrance” which our queue wasn’t, when making an announcement to get up and to make us stand like sardines in a can when we still had to wait an hour longer than GCEE, and it was pushy.

When we got inside we ran to the middle back of the golden circle, the front area was quite full already. We truly had some wonderful people around us, and it was so nice to have conversations with fans irl. There were party poopers and angry people who were just there because they had the money for a golden circle ticket or got dragged along and stood still like a brick wall the whole concert or only knew bad romance- but that’s also very dutch  and the risk of standing in the back of the gc.
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of hands going up and people dancing thankfully and tried to focus on the happy queers everywhere I looked. Overall I’d say the the kind people were extremely kind- winning over hostile peoples energy.

The setlist was really good, I think it’s smart she starts with the old hits, it made everyone lift up at the start and after those I just was anticipating all the new songs. She performed all the songs with a lot of passion, the fire was incredible, I loved the screens. The interludes were gorgeous. The dancers were on fire. The fashion was incredible.

I believe there were some malfunctions this evening. The Alice platform malfunctioned and her mic and the screens had some issues at some point. I think her earpiece as well as she was often singing ahead of the beat, which I haven’t seen her do before. She also started Fun Tonight on the wrong beat and was visibly annoyed at herself which was kinda cute. (and then seemed to sing it accompanied by only drums which sounded really off compared to the rest of the concert?! Not sure if the backing track wasn’t on or if the guitarists forgot to join this segment). So there were some little funny things going on but nothing massive.

She dedicated ARUTW to her family 🥹
And Shallow and 1000 Doves in concert really hits differently wow.

Although this standing spot in the middle back is great, the back of the gc is also used as the pathway so that got especially annoying during the last song when everyone started pushing and fighting to get out, people cried a lot at this concert out of desperation (you could only exit on the right side at the end for some reason and people really panicked as it became too full and we all couldn’t breathe and the lights were off), while you’re still anticipating Gaga’s farewell. So I don’t think there’s a perfect spot in the GC because of how it’s organised, unless you have early entrance/a barricade spot.

Afterwards the whole standing areas had to exit through two exits through a pathway of about 5 meters- not even going to describe the shuttle buses and train trip home.

We didn’t want to be cramped and knew that the view could be bad because of the low stage people had warned about on GGD, so we really stuck to the back row middle, where we had a good view as we stood on the feet of the barricade which lifts you up about 7 cms. To see her in action you had to lift your heels though. I recommend comfortable platform shoes if you have any. She walked past on her way to the B stage which was a highlight, and then we had a great view on the B stage. However we could’ve also arrived at 8 to the venue and still made it to the spot we were in like some locals around us.

They blocked off the right exit/entrance of the golden circle at a random point before the concert started so if you left you couldn’t make it back and had to walk all the way around the arena to the left front to enter from there, but they didn’t give you that info so people just ended up crying because they couldn’t get back to their friends. Also the bathrooms were in the far back right outside of the arena so you had to cross the whole venue on the sides to get to the bathroom. And to get a drink you needed to have a special venue card to top up and to pay with- so unnecessary in this day and age. We were very grateful for security handing out water though! Security of health was on it in general, a lot of people fainted around us, perhaps like 6 throughout in our direct circle, as it was about 34 degrees in the gc, we lifted them over the barricade with security. Definitely recommend bringing one of those small electric fans. I brought some sugar high energy blocks to keep us up and we took water bottles (hid the cap in our pants) that we sipped on throughout (also recommend) I remember with the monster pit how it was just heaven compared to this hostile golden circle and you could just exit and enter under the sides of the very elevated stage and run around to wherever gaga was. I wish they kept that winning formula. The GC was completely empty on the sides as no one wanted to have a blocked view by the pointy catwalks and she barely walked on those so they definitely oversold the GC but also bad design and use led to people cramping to the middle.

Her voice is in such a good state, she’s in such a good state , I don’t think I’ve ever cried more at a concert than during the piano segment at the Chromatica ball, it was melancholic and wholesome. And I’ve never danced more at a concert either. These little lights made me put my hands up continuously.

It was my 6th time seeing Gaga and it’s definitely a show on par with TFMB and BTWB for me. However it was absolutely not on par in terms of logistics unfortunately, which had a lot to do with the Gelredome venue. From what I’ve read from the other dates, the show is having structural organisational issues, I hope they fix this for the sake of other fans! Overall definitely in my top 5 of concerts I’ve attended and so proud to be a fan and for Gaga to thrive like this again 

 

 

[MaybeKermit 3,633]

I was at Arnhem yesterday, and I LOVED it. Def my fav tour of hers together w BTWB. 

however, I think they couldve done…more? Infeel like they just did song to song, dancing. There was no real plot, no props that were tying the show together like at the monster ball

I’m not saying she NEEDS props, but cmon it’s a stadium show. Dont get me wrong! I looooved it, but like some people already pointed out: stadium tours are usually next level over the top mindblowing, and I feel like with Gaga the stage was just too simple

still give it 4/5 tho <3

 

[aaronf4242 10]

On 7/18/2022 at 1:16 AM, Seringai said:

This! It somehow reminds me of this short movie. You are stuck and can’t go anywhere - this is very alice + Brutalism at its finest

 

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT OF WHEN I SAW IT!  I literally cried during this performance.  Mainly because I relate so well to that song, and it was also the first song from Chromatica performed after such a long long wait.