The Monster Ball concert review in Helsingin Sanomat

Superstar performed also with make-up on the cheeks

Published: 15.10.2010 in the Culture section of the paper

 Mikko Aaltonen

 Lady Gagas show was a mix of pop concert, gay-spirited cabaret, music theater and stand-up.

At the second time in Finland performing Stefani Germanotta alias Lady Gaga offered an unforgettable show, which was a strange mix of pop concert, gay-spirited cabaret, music theater and spontaneous stand-up in Helsinki Arena in Wednesday night.

With her strange costumes constantly shrugging Gaga changed her outfit over ten times during the show.

Most of the garments was the kind that in tram car on the casual passenger they would have caused suspicions about the bearers mental state.

Fashion and music were only one element in Lady Gagas Monster Ball-show. For some kind of a common thread of the performance arose general provocation and raising the self-esteem of teen-aged fandom. The star compared herself with Jesus and shouted: "You are all born to superstars and you can become whatever you want, if you want it enough. I want that when you leave here, you don't love me more, but yourselves."

The use of religious themes is surely an old trick with provocation-willing pop-stars and familiar yet from the concerts of Gagas contest-sister Madonna from the 1980s. Gagas freakiness was nevertheless more fierce: during Teeth-song Gaga swam at the fountain in the set of her home-city New Yorks Central Park, and from the fountain welled up blood and arose a Christ-statue. The fake-blood run down from Gagas slashed throat into her bikini.

Sold-out Arenas 11.000 spectators watched and listened in turn silently as well as incontinently indicating their favour. It felt like here really might be a pop-star, such as we haven't seen before.

A small paradox is that how conservative Gagas popmusic is when compared to the glatantness of her character and show. This is probably completely considered. If mainly as mainstream disco-electro thumped music would be any more challenging, the entirety might have been too hard to swallow for great masses.

Now the performance get strength right from the contrasts. The contrast between musics easiness and shows blasphemy and Gagas own characters supernaturalness and on the other hand humanitys transposition managed to keep the interest on the whole two hours.

The nights most touching moment wasn't the turbo-loaded dance numbers with electro-bumping and nude surface, but when Gag sat with her make-up sprawled in front of a grand piano and told a story about her deceased grandfather.

"My grandpa wouldn't like all this sex and leather, which I have in my show, but he would've liked that that I perform and play music to you."

After this she presented the concerts only taste of her next year upcoming Born This Way-album, this 1980s style adult-rock sounded You and I-song. During these songs Gaga acoustically performed alone, she showed like in passing that she is not just a produced and plastic pop-product, but also a real musician, who control the situation even then where there is no band, battalion of dancers and a truckfull of gadgets for backup.

In front of a flaming grand piano other fakelash slouching sitting Gaga doesn't look a supernatural superstar anymore, rather an ordinary in her twenties, who is sincerely abashed of the grace she got.

When she accompanied herself little bit clumsy with grand piano, it came to mind that Madonna would not even in the start of her career hardly took such risk with exposing so completely her own humanity.

By the aid of that Gaga might even paddle past her most obvious paragon.