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Posted by Elizabeth V. Bouras on Thursday, September 9th, 2010

Lady Gaga Monster Ball, Charlottesville, VA 9.8 ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras, All Rights Reserved

Lady GaGa brings the Monster Ball to the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA – September 8, 2010 with openers Semi Precious Weapons

By Paula O’Keefe. Photos ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras

So, the only tickets left for Verizon Center were way up in the oxygen-mask section, and our partner in crime, The Intrepid Liz, says bite that, let’s go to Virginia and see her at the University (John Paul Jones Auditorium in Charlottesville). Which, long story short, we did. We had completely awesome seats, which cost Liz only half her firstborn, directly to La Gaga’s left in the first tier of seats–I mean we were practically in her pocket (if she wore anything with pockets). We left the DC area about 1 PM, checked into the hotel four-ish, got to the venue about 7 PM, just before door opening. The crowd was unbelievably wired. I mean, I haven’t seen more than two or three crowds this lit up in ever, never for a female performer, and we’re talking more than 40 years of shows here.

Semi Precious Weapons @ Monster Ball, Charlottesville, VA 9.8 ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras, All Rights Reserved

Opening band is the completely delightful Semi Precious Weapons, who are working SO hard to channel the New York Dolls at their tawdry prime (with a shot of Hanoi Rocks, I’d say). Loud, sassy, haughty, and having a ton of fun (I dare you to hate a band who leads with the lyric “I can’t pay my rent but I’m fucking gorgeous”) they declare their task to be “getting you wet and excited for Lady Gaga” who, they affirm, is the only person they love more than they do themselves. (Getting a sense of the attitude here? I hope. =) There’s a strip tease and some more great lyrics and so much sheer energy that they manage the I’d've-said-impossible task of getting the laser-focused crowd on its feet and engaged in their set, and exit to cheers. Thanks for keeping the dream alive, kids.

Lady Gaga Monster Ball, Charlottesville, VA 9.8 ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras, All Rights Reserved

But we know what everyone’s here to see. And wow. Let me see if I can get even close to what this was like:

She uses her own icon status just as calculatedly as Manson did at his best (and don’t even try to tell me that Marilyn Manson never mattered, because I was there 50 or more times in that band’s astonishing prime, 13 years ago, okay? and I know.), right down to having studied exactly what her silhouette looks like, but not for the same reasons, and it all lies in that. Manson thought of himself as an art piece, a ritual object, possibly even an explosive device; he wanted revenge, power, to be untouchable. He was brilliant, gifted even, at causing that sense of ritual space, haven for the misfits, calling the freak kids of the world inside–for all these years I’d never seen anyone better at it–but what he ultimately wanted was to add your power to his own.

Lady Gaga Monster Ball, Charlottesville, VA 9.8 ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras, All Rights Reserved

Gaga wants–I’m sure I’m presuming, having seen her only this once, but I feel sure I’m right–to use that same power to build bridges, to open things; when she has all the little monsters under her roof she wants them to feel safe, defended, advocated for, and well, beautiful. There’s a reason she styles herself Mother Monster. She creates a magical space, this Monster Ball, and lights it up (sequins, glitter, neon bracelets and wands that light up, this isn’t a dark place–Liz comments that the last time she saw a crowd dressed up like this at an arena show was Bowie in the 70s, and that ought to tell you everything)–and over and over she tells the crowd that it can do anything, that it’s great just as it is, that it shouldn’t listen when it’s called too fat or too awkward or too weird. [When Manson championed the kids, it was to call society to task for what it had done to them; when she does it, she just wants to hug them.] –I did it, she says; you can do it too.

Lady Gaga Monster Ball, Charlottesville, VA 9.8 ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras, All Rights Reserved

And even better, she just about breathes fire in defense of gay kids–I should say, GLBT kids– especially homeless ones, bitterly angry that so many are cast onto the street by parents who “don’t accept that they were born that way”. She’s gotten Virgin Mobile to donate tens of thousands to a charity that supports these street kids (plus, I think she said, $25 grand from herself), but more than that she defends them, tells them to be proud of what they are, and holy goddess, do I wish she’d been around when I was 17. [Well, she was, but she was, like, five. =) ] And it has GOT to make a difference, if you are a GLBT kid in guns-God-and-government Virginia where we actually saw the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag flying in someone’s yard, to hear someone this beautiful and powerful say that. (Not to mention a fierce rant about people who dare determine who Jesus does and does not love; Jesus, she tells the monsters, loves everybody.)

Lady Gaga Monster Ball, Charlottesville, VA 9.8 ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras, All Rights Reserved

–Yeah yeah, you’ve heard all this before, ‘believe in yourself’ is practically a fortune cookie, but…she puts it across, she makes it convincing, because she’s just so great. She’s this tiny little thing, carries herself like she’s ten feet tall but she’s a solid little doll with legs like a gymnast and the charisma of a Frazetta princess; and she strides out to the edge of the catwalk in a trail of dancers like the Tiny Monster Goddess of All the World, Kobakemono-kami, and…talks to the fans. Accepts presents, puts them on if they’re wearable, compliments them right there. “Are you pregnant? Be careful now! Congratulations!” Says over and over again how great we are and how thankful for us she is. –Yeah, I’m sure she says the same thing every single night; in fact I hope she does. The Tiny Beast Goddess’s wings are wide, and can get everyone underneath.

Lady Gaga Monster Ball, Charlottesville, VA 9.8 ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras, All Rights Reserved

(Look, it’s too easy to be cynical. Cynicism is a defense and in time it’ll get to be a wall you can’t see through. Believe, sometimes. It doesn’t hurt, X my heart. I’m an old lady and even I can still do it. =).

—Oh, was the show good? Yeah, the show was great. =)=) Seriously, it’s a spectacle and super danceable and nonstop fun; it’s got a dozen costume changes, amazing sets, a monster (or two), hydraulic lifts, a burning piano and a spark-shooting bra. She does all her totally infectious hits (of which the shiny crowd knew every single word) and her voice is beautiful. (Probably prerecorded here and there, but hey. You know what she sounds like; you came here to see her, and she gives you all of that you could want; the show is two hours long. Pacing lags a little in spots; 90 minutes would’ve done it, but again, hey. *shrug*).

So, maybe it’s arrogant or something to style yourself a champion, defender of the defenseless, “hero of the broken, the beaten and the damned” and all that. Maybe. But I’d sure as hell rather hear it said than not said.

And I know what she’d have meant to me when I was in the closet in the backwaters of Massachusetts, and I can guess what she means now, and I’m really, really glad she’s there.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 9th, 2010 at 5:14 PM. It is filed under Blog, Elizabeth V. Bouras, Feature, Live Music, Paula O'Keefe and tagged with 2010, Lady Gaga, Monster Ball, Semi Precious Weapons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.