Least Favorite Tour: Gaga

[Ladle Ghoulash 40,392]

2 minutes ago, AVeryGagaHolyDick said:

The Fame Ball, I genuinely don’t understand how anyone can say something else

??? The Fame Ball is excellent lol

[palma 8,737]

Honestly... as good as it was... Chromatica. Just because we now know what she's been capable of doing (post ARTPOP, that is). From the rest least I'm exposed to is the Fame Ball but lbr no girl with that kind of budget would be able to pull a show like that at age 21 so, TCB it is 

[SleepingSun 834]

The Joanne World Tour was pretty bland. Her vocals were killer, though!

[Schwerk 7,414]

Chromatica Ball 

The sight lines were horrendous, we didn't see her 70% of the time.

She was very disconnected from the audience and the OG little monsters compared to other tours.

The hair wasn't my personal fav and I didn't really love the costumes (although there were a huge step up from Enigma)

Pro's:

The interludes were top tier

I lived for the Alice/monster look

She seemed healthy and happy

ARUTW in Paris was magical, 76.000 people singing along. Still wish they'd shot the concert there instead of LA. The atmosphere really was electric.

[Controversiaga 13,011]

Artrave stage was so awful and the costumes were rather tacky.

chromatica stage was not good either but Gaga looked amazing and the costumes were good.

Joanne was a good show, the outfits were okay.

Edited Wednesday at 01:56 PM by Controversiaga

[TimotheeChalamet 6,697]

I can only judge the shows I've witnessed in presence (artRave, Joanne World Tour, Mayhem Ball), so I'd say the artRave. It's not a bad show and the stage was amazing but I didn't like the outfits and most of the backdrop videos, there were too many shortened songs and the backing track had a weird mixing (at least at my date) that drowned her vocals. Obviously she was singing her ass off though, but among the three times I've seen her, that was my least favorite 

[himerosxo 490]

1 hour ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

How is it “formatted for the general public” when the visuals in the interludes were some of her most avant garde in recent memory and the setlist was largely songs from an album the GP isn’t familiar with? 

I think you’re kind of missing the nuance of what I meant by “formatted for the general public,” so let me clarify.

When I say that, I’m not denying that the visuals or interludes had avant-garde elements because they absolutely did. The interludes were some of the most conceptually interesting parts of the show. But a few experimental visuals don’t necessarily define the overall structure of the tour.

What I’m referring to is the formatting of the show itself; how it was paced, structured, and presented. Compared to her previous tours, which felt more chaotic, theatrical, and deeply rooted in a singular narrative or artistic risk, Chromatica Ball felt more streamlined and digestible. It leaned into a stadium-friendly formula rather than fully committing to the kind of immersive, unpredictable experience she’s known for followed by closing the show with a song from Top Gun which was out and again, the general public, loved…

Yes, the setlist being mostly Chromatica doesn’t automatically make it “less GP” if anything, the way those songs were arranged and presented made them feel more accessible rather than pushing them further into something more experimental or reimagined.

That doesn’t mean it was bad, it just felt safer and less distinctively “Gaga” to me compared to tours like Monster Ball or artRAVE, which fully committed to their worlds without compromise.

It’s just my perspective, not a universal truth. 

[imogen2133 273]

It might be a tie between JWT and Chromatica ball. JWT looked very messy aesthetically and has some of my least fav vocals from her whole career. Chromatica Ball was uninspired and pretty bland overall. I mean she starts it as a fridge for a good chunk of the first Act

As for the ones I have been to ARTrave was so fun and one of the best nights of my life, I'm also happy I got to see some of my fav songs from her live(Venus, Gypsy, ARTPOP, Bad Romance, Telephone, Applause, Swine and Aura) and it was just incredible. Loved the costumes and the see through stage where you could see her no matter where you were in the arena.

 

Mayhem Ball was fun, I'm glad I got to see Scheibe, Judas, Garden Of Eden, Summerboy, Lovegame, Marry The Night, Bloody Mary live, especially since I didn't get to go to the BTWB but it was very nice, especially MTN at the piano. Some sections I got a bit bored (The Dead Dance, The Beast, 1000 Doves, Shallow, Million Reasons) and one of the speakers was blocking the middle screen for all of it so I couldn't see her too well at times but overall it was a good experience. 

Edited Wednesday at 02:16 PM by imogen2133

[Ultimecia 6,323]

Born This Way Ball: The performances haven't aged the best in my eyes, and the show gets pretty boring to me after LoveGame. But the stage and theatrics are unmatched.

Joanne World Tour: Very intricate theatrics that somehow make for a very underwhelming result. We could all feel that her spirit wasn't into it as well.

The Chromatica Ball: The very definition of "the performer is what makes the show", the stage and setlist are incredibly clunky, but she had fantastic energy and the performances were incredible as a result. The show features some of the best art films of her career, but the aesthetic is all over the place.

(The MAYHEM Ball: I can't really judge since I've never watched it.) 

So, out of the tours I have major issues with, I would have to vote for the Joanne World Tour.

I don't think the material from Joanne was suited for a regular "pop show" in the first place either.

[Ladle Ghoulash 40,392]

1 hour ago, himerosxo said:

I think you’re kind of missing the nuance of what I meant by “formatted for the general public,” so let me clarify.

When I say that, I’m not denying that the visuals or interludes had avant-garde elements because they absolutely did. The interludes were some of the most conceptually interesting parts of the show. But a few experimental visuals don’t necessarily define the overall structure of the tour.

What I’m referring to is the formatting of the show itself; how it was paced, structured, and presented. Compared to her previous tours, which felt more chaotic, theatrical, and deeply rooted in a singular narrative or artistic risk, Chromatica Ball felt more streamlined and digestible. It leaned into a stadium-friendly formula rather than fully committing to the kind of immersive, unpredictable experience she’s known for followed by closing the show with a song from Top Gun which was out and again, the general public, loved…

Yes, the setlist being mostly Chromatica doesn’t automatically make it “less GP” if anything, the way those songs were arranged and presented made them feel more accessible rather than pushing them further into something more experimental or reimagined.

That doesn’t mean it was bad, it just felt safer and less distinctively “Gaga” to me compared to tours like Monster Ball or artRAVE, which fully committed to their worlds without compromise.

It’s just my perspective, not a universal truth. 

Yeah, I understand what the format of the show means, I just disagree. If any of her shows is formatted around being digestible for the GP (both in terms of aesthetic and in terms of pacing), it would be the JWT (virtually no “Gaga” aesthetic or theatrical storytelling, streamlined to be centered solely around conventional pop choreo performances).
 

CBT doesn’t have an explicit narrative per se, but definitely has more of an emotional arc in terms of traveling from harsh emotional austerity to an emotional reopening passing through inner turmoil. I can get why you might say you think it’s less “Gaga” than TFB, MBT, TMB, BTWB, but I just don’t really think you can justifiably say it misses the mark in that regard more than the ArtRave or JWT. 

Edited Wednesday at 03:43 PM by Ladle Ghoulash

[Ladle Ghoulash 40,392]

8 minutes ago, Ultimecia said:

Born This Way Ball: The performances haven't aged the best in my eyes, and the show gets pretty boring to me after LoveGame. But the stage and theatrics are unmatched.

Joanne World Tour: Very intricate theatrics that somehow make for a very underwhelming result. We could all feel that her spirit wasn't into it as well.

The Chromatica Ball: The very definition of "the performer is what makes the show", the stage and setlist are incredibly clunky, but she had fantastic energy and the performances were incredible as a result. The show features some of the best art films of her career, but the aesthetic is all over the place.

(The MAYHEM Ball: I can't really judge since I've never watched it.) 

So, out of the tours I have major issues with, I would have to vote for the Joanne World Tour.

I don't think the material from Joanne was suited for a regular "pop show" in the first place either.

The concept of refusing to watch her best tour

[rinasawachanta 3,396]

ArtRave... So bad and cheap. Coming from BTWBall it was a downgrade for the ages

[Ultimecia 6,323]

2 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

The concept of refusing to watch her best tour

Not refusing, simply never had the interest. 

[Ladle Ghoulash 40,392]

1 minute ago, Ultimecia said:

Not refusing, simply never had the interest. 

The concept of not being interested in her best tour

[bxr 1,315]

48 minutes ago, AVeryGagaHolyDick said:

The Fame Ball, I genuinely don’t understand how anyone can say something else

45 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

??? The Fame Ball is excellent lol

The vision and execution on a budget … all things being equal (I guess, the pop music equivalent of, “adjusted for inflation“) … The Fame Ball punches well-above its weight class, and, arguably, in justifying its own thesis that “Pop Music Will Never Be Low Brow,” effectually elevated the collective pop standard weight class

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