Unpopular opinion: Gaga's tours

[nATAH 52,825]

1 hour ago, Windowlicker said:

Let me also add that it’s such a shame that someone who is so acclaimed as a performer doesn’t seem to put any care into the legacy she’s leaving behind on that front. No live albums or commercial DVD releases for her tours. It’s just really sad and annoying as a fan that more isn't done there.

this absolute tea

her peers are turning concert movies into movie theatre experiences, she needs to follow them and even if dvd sales are dead, just re-release a deluxe or "tour" edition of the album with 3/4 bonus tracks and a dvd of said tour

it's actually quite embarrassing that she spent so long on the CBT film only for it to fail to release in many other regions. why hasn't HBO followed through on the deal? a whole damn mess... 

thankfully she put out harlequin live on something accessible and free like youtube, maybe michael is also on the same thought of "we need to cement her legacy as a live performer" since mayhem requim is supposedly coming soon

[Sarah H 4,015]

The Mayhem Ball is her best tour. Will be very hard to beat. One of the best ever imo. 

I did also really love the Joanne tour though. 

I know we have Coachella and Mayhem on the beach, but we'd better get a proper recording/release of The Mayhem Ball!

 

Edited January 18 by Sarah H

[PartySick 165,586]

1 hour ago, Bronco said:

It was a dark few years 😅😅

Excuse me, something goes wrong with EVERY tour  

She's losing all her props and outfits or she breaks her hip or she's collabed with predators or the stage breaks and her fibro makes her cancel or the rain makes her cut the last show short or she hurTS HER VOICE AND POSTPONES LAST MINUTE??  

 

[Oriane 21,691]

I only saw TCB and MAYHEM, so obviously I feel biased towards them since I have a personal experience there.

MAYHEM really seems to be her best tour yet. Maybe missing something in terms of staging to make it more special, the way the artRave and JWT had.

I didn't see the artRave but it's one of my favorites from her. The stage looks amazing especially with all the lights. The vocals were amazing, she was on fire. I regret that the professional recording we have from it is such bad quality in terms of camera work.

The stage of TCB was kind of a mess, it would have worked better as something recorded. People on the sides couldn't see her in the first act. The catwalks were too high and basically blocking the view. The only time I saw her with my own eyes was during the first part of Free Woman  Why would you have a whole catwalk that blocks a whole view if you're only going to use it for half a song?

I loved the camerawork and screens in TCB and I wish the film reflected more of that. It starts well but it becomes a regular tour film as it goes on.

BTWB never really did much for me.

TFM was nice but it's overrated, she's done better since.

Some songs are not meant to be performed and I wish she would just not do them, even if they're part of the album she's touring. Heavy Metal Lover is one of my favorite songs, but it's just not interesting to sing live.

A handheld mic is better and there's such a rockstar vibe in using it and integrating it to the choreos instead of relying on the head mic.

[Linus Gaga 8,394]

4 hours ago, Ophelia said:

artRAVE was SO GOOD but you had to be there to understand the full impact tbh.

On the other hand, Joanne was boring and the stage in person was nowhere near as exciting as people make it to be. Yeah, the platforms were descending from the roof, but so what if you could barely see her on these, esp the runways? and I stood right underneath one of the platforms, could barely see the tip of her hat  "best stage design" my ass

Yeah i don't understand why JWT is so overrated here except I do love the vocal, interludes, and the piano 

[Blackout19 13,533]

1 hour ago, TimotheeChalamet said:

@Blackout19 doesn't like it just because he envisioned something else and it didn't happen. 

true

[RochesterJoannster 3,681]

Having a massive selection of hits upon hits can be an obstacle for an album tour!
 

Gotta find the right balance! Gaga always balances it but the way she scores new hit songs with every era makes it so she has to leave more out each time (not a bad problem to have)

[Sneaky Oliver 22,595]

I feel like Gaga’s storytelling is a little limited, many of her tours share similar storylines, they’re either about a good versus evil/Gaga versus an antagonist story or a duality concept

Monster ball - Gaga x The Fame Monster

BTWBT - Gaga x Mother GOAT

JWT - Duality between the superstar Gaga and Joanne-Ga

Enigma - both Gaga x Enigma and duality between present Gaga and future/simulation Gaga

CBT - Duality between the “good” Gaga and the “bad” Gaga

Mayhem - Gaga x Mistress of Mayhem 

I feel like sometimes the storyline gets a little lost, like she’s not able to go all the way with the narrative, Mayhem being the most “complete” one imo

She’s very good when it comes to conceptualizing stuff but perhaps she should have a “theatrics” team to help her reach her full potential 

I know that at the end of the day it’s a pop concert and not a broadway musical but she is one of the few pop performers who can merge these two things together, she just needs some help to improve her ideas 

[Ziggy 12,620]

- TFB does count idk why some people don't lol it's also among her best for all the reasons people like Jazz and Piano. Gaga was a very audience active performer then

- TMB 2.0 is still her best tour. That's not nostalgia, sorry. Look at HER on the tour, how she performs, etc. Her energy is absolutely magnetic. 1.0 is also a very very good and underrated show.

- Gaga tends to do better with less budget as it inspires more creativity, than big budget

- TBTWB's castle is gorgeous but often too big for its venues, kinda cumbersome to look at, but a great foundation for what was to come (Mayhem)

- ArtRave's stage was kinda bookie but those catwalks were some of her best tour ideas

- Joanne is the worst tour. She was out of it. Yes Setlist had fun deep cuts, but that is its only saving grace. It's got an interesting but generic stage, greatest hits-style setlist due to Joanne's so so reception, etc. HOWEVER, the wet rainbow hair look is an all timer. However the vocals tore.

- TCB was an amazing stage and technically very tight show, but I think the lackluster standards of years prior makes us view it with rose colored glasses; that said, it had *some* amazing costumes

- Mayhem is wonderful and like the album is absolutely the best representation of everything "Gaga" all in one place. Exceptional brand building. Even if she doesn't win the Grammys this year, this era and tour especially have been exceptional at exactly what she intended so brava

- She should never drop some of her hits, but she should remix them.

- the original Scheiße choreo is drag race girl group challenge, terrible, awful, her worst and thank god mayehm gave us our first good live performance of this song; it's been 84 years

- generally speaking, she needs less elaborate costumes. Ga is the performer you can just put in a leotard and her raw energy is enough ala GoE & Scheiße, and monster ball 2.0. When she has big costumes it's a chop. She's kinetic, not static.

- Pokerface has basically never been good on a tour to me; JD is the all-timer

- Alejandro is such an odd spot in her discography, she needs to do a better job of making it feel natural in shows (JWT did have the best tour arrangement so far)

Edited January 18 by Ziggy

[Sneaky Oliver 22,595]

4 hours ago, PartySick said:

Actually, hot take on The Chromatica Ball  

The fact that the only moving part of the stage itself was the lazy Susan they slapped on the middle/top part of that horrid box shape so Gaga could rotate like a hot pocket in a microwave instead of dance for Bad Romance, Just Dance, and most of Poker Face was a weird choice.

The box design itself made the first 20 minutes pointless for anyone who wasn't directly in front of the stage.

The overall stage design was basically a fake concrete wall with two tiny walkways and a box for her to stand on several yards from the main stage  

It’s such a shame how that stage felt like it was missing something because i live for the aesthetics

I love that “bed”? she had for Alice, I remember watching the show for the first time thinking a new prop would pop up on every act and they were all hidden on stage since the beginning… that would be a GAG but then nothing happened and the stage felt like a missed opportunity 

[himerosxo 440]

- The Monster Ball will always be her best tour. Especially for her touring from 2009-11. YOU HAD TO BE THERE! To the OG’s IYKYK.
 

- The Born This Way Ball was incredible but it’s honestly too overrated by fans. The stage was probably the only thing holding it up. She also wasn’t well during the last of it. 
 

- artRAVE. May seem like a mess but it was truly a PARTY! You just had to be there. 
 

- JWT was so much fun! Best stage yet and it was truly an incredible experience! 
 

- CHROMATICA BALL: Bitch, this was the biggest disappointment ever. It was like a Coachella set put together by her team for the general public. It didn’t seem like she had a say in anything down to the fan interaction. It seemed super conformed for the GP. Half the fans around me in the pit in LA were NOT LMs. She seemed off and this was the less Gaga tour she’s done. I usually try and go to multiple shows each tour but this time it was one and done. 
 

MAYHEM BALL: THIS IS HER BEST TOUR SINCE THE MONSTER BALL. HANDS. DOWN. 

[Bronco 16,403]

36 minutes ago, Sneaky Oliver said:

CBT - Duality between the “good” Gaga and the “bad” Gaga

Honestly, I don't see CBT as a duality narrative. 

CBT is very very firmly introspective and built around her expressing her views of Lady Gaga being her prison. There's no good or bad Gaga, just an exploration of how shackled and controlled she's felt by her early stardom and the negatives that came with it (SA/serious injury/mental health issues). Ending on an almost resigned/defeated note and accepting it.

With the successor Mayhem narrative then being her not just accepting it but learning to love it and embrace it. 

[PartySick 165,586]

23 minutes ago, Sneaky Oliver said:

It’s such a shame how that stage felt like it was missing something because i live for the aesthetics

I love that “bed”? she had for Alice, I remember watching the show for the first time thinking a new prop would pop up on every act and they were all hidden on stage since the beginning… that would be a GAG but then nothing happened and the stage felt like a missed opportunity 

I would love to "fan fix" that tour's stage. Aside from Alice, all the Chromatica tracks really came alive with live production and they deserved to shine better than with a big grey box  

[ARTSEX 1,147]

Just came here to clarify:
People seem to be forgetting that she intentionally had her movement during the CBT limited as she had to cancel her previous tour because of fibromyalgia pain (and the tour being the shortest one of all). I think it was great that she started with 3 of her biggest hits (as contrast to other tours). We still did get dancing and Free woman was a creative way of her engaging with audience while not having choreography.

[Lemon Blood 379]

I can’t contribute to this one because I’ve never been to any of her tours