The Born This Way Ball

I was at the Born This Way Ball in Helsinki 27.8.2012. Gaga's third show in Finland was in Helsinki Arena (Hartwall Arena) which has 11 000 seats. It was sold out in that day and on the second it was pretty much full too. This was the first time I bought my ticket from official ticket supplier, since at the Fame Ball and at the Monster Ball I didn't get the tickets early enough. Now I was queueing in front of the ticket sales place from early morning, so I got mine. The tickets ran out in four minutes, and a floor ticket cost me 100 € ($140), which is the same price I paid for the two last Gaga show tickets, but them I bought from internet auction so their price was doubled there. I don't like the expensive ticket costs, which are only growing higher every time. There were still some more expensive tickets (140€), but I don't know what's the point of buying them, since I already got floor ticket (best place) with forty euros less!
At the morning of Monday when the concert was my mother drove me to Espoo (a city next to Helsinki, where the concert was) to an electronics store to buy some stuff. Since I couldn't find any other place to buy LED light I had to go there. I bought LEDs for my Alejandro Crown and when I got back home I installed them to the crown in a hurry. It still took me five hours to get everything ready. I have never mae anything with LEDs so I had to do with half an hour of electricity training. It went well, although I burned one LED, so instead of ten, I then used eight lights. Anyway the crown turned out really great and it got many looks at the concert.

Some liked it hot, and me likes too!

I arrived to the arena some two hours before the gates opened. I was sad since I thought I was too late, that I couldn't get to the Mosnter Pit anymore, because there were a long queue already. Some people started at six o'clock at the mornign, which is crazy, they had to wait 12 hours before even getting inside. They only let people to queue from 8 at morning onwards at the arena area, but people waited on some bridege before that. I don't like queueing at all, it don't prove anything about fan-ness, and I was really greatly reliefed and happy when I asked from a security woman could I still fit in Mosnter Pit. She responded that there were still 18 places left so I went to the end of the line. There came some other people to fill the line soon, so I was just at the right time at the right place. For once. Which was weird, was that many people didn't even know what the Monster Pit was, since they asked from security what that line was were I was standing, they told that it was a Monster Pit line, and told that it would be an auiditorium whic would be pretty crowded. Then some people didn't want to come there, I wonder if they regretted their desicion, when they finally figured out where the Monster Pit really was. At the middle of the stage!

Queueing for the Monster Pit, all those people are going elsewhere than the Pit

At the queue there were some reporters looking around for a story. They found me of course since I was wearing Alejandro Robe and Crown and those could be hard to miss. Not many people were dressed very much Gagastyle, I ahd to most outrageous outfit there, most of them who had something ,wore denim vests with "Born This Way" on their backs. Then there were skulls painted on people's faces, and a few Judas costumes. And leather jackets. Anyway a reporter and a photographer from Hufvudstadsbladet, HBL, "capital city news" in Swedish, the biggest Swedish newspaper in Finland (maybe the only one too, I'm not sure) cought me. They took some questions and photographs. I answered in English, since the reporter didn't speak Finnish and I wasn't in the mood of talking Swedish. I got into the newspaper article and my picture was shown in the web version of the article, but not in the print version. Very nice anyway.

Photo of me from HBL newspaper web article

Then I saw a familiar headpiece amongst the queuers. That was my Blue Telephone Hat which one girl was wearing. She had recreated it using my tutorial as help. It was a nice costume. It's always nice to teach people.

Familiar looking Blue Telephone Hat there

I got to the Monster Pit, which was absolutely fantastic place to watch the concert, but I didn't get to the very first line. That was because when I came inside the arena building, some reporter and camera crew stopped me for a quick interview. That took five minutes which was the reason I didn't get to the first line, or second, or third in the Monster Pit. The reporter asked me some questions in Finnish, the cameraman was an outlander, and they made the interview from Skype News. Weird enough, later at home I couldn't find anything about Skype News from internet.

Skype News interviewed me, now you see the Crown with lights on

The concert started with Lady Starlights weird performance, this time she was a mummy. Then played The Darkness, glam rock band from Great Britain. I'm not a fan of them, so that's for that. Finally, an hour late, like usual, Gaga started, and the starting was extraordinarily amazing! That was the most unexpected and awesome starting I've seen! Gaga rode to the stage on a horse (or was it a black unicorn, I couldn't see). First I though that the horse was real, but it wasn't really. It was just so well made and the dancers carried it around while Gaga was riding it. Some viewers thought the whole time that it was a real animal. Gaga's dancers followed in a military style parade carrying flags of G.O.A.T. The animatronic head of Gaga floating in the air and telling the Manifesto of Mother Mosnter was incredible too, creepy and fantastic. Of course I loved the whole castle on the stage, as well as the meatgrinders at Poker Face and the rotating cloth rack with some of Gaga's famous costumes at Fashion of His Love.

The set list was:

Act I

1. Space (intro)
2. Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)
3. Operation: Kill the Bitch (interlude)
4. Government Hooker
5. Birth (interlude)
6. Born This Way
7. Black Jesus † Amen Fashion
8. Emerging (interlude)
9. Bloody Mary
10. Mother G.O.A.T. Manifesto I (interlude)
11. Bad Romance
12. G.O.A.T Briefing (interlude)
13. Judas

Act II

1. Fashion of His Love
2. Just Dance
3. LoveGame
4. Telephone

Act III

1. Mother G.O.A.T. Manifesto II (interlude)
2. Heavy Metal Lover
3. Speech
4. Bad Kids
5. Hair (acoustic)
6. Princess Die (acoustic)
7. Yoü and I (acoustic)
8. Electric Chapel

Act IV

1. Interlude
2. Americano
3. Poker Face
4. Alejandro
5. Paparazzi

Act V

1. Scheiße
2. The Edge of Glory (acoustic + album)
3. Marry the Night

Sadly many older songs were dropped out due to capacity issues, much more material from Born This Way album was present. I would have liked to hear Dance in the Dark, Beautiful, Dirty, Rich, The Fame, Boys Boys Boys, Money Honey, So Happy I Could Die, Monster and Teeth, which were in Monster Ball, but were dropped out now. Also I would have liked different order with the songs more, now Bad Romance, which was last in Monster Ball, and which is Gaga's best song, came way too early at the concert, in the end of the first act. Luckily Poker Face-Alejandro-Paparazzi combo was saved for the second last act.

Finally my video of the concert:

Born This Way Ball concert review in Helsingin Sanomat

Gaga paid a tit for tat 

The new superstar of pop teases with the religion, sex and violence in the imagery, just like Madonna.

Published: 8.29.2012 in the Culture section of the paper 

Mikko Aaltonen

Lady Gaga was photographed last week in Tallinn. It wasn't allowed to photograph the concert so the photo is taken from a building next to it.

Lady Gaga is, as her paragon and current rival Madonna, fixated up to her ears to religious symbolism, sexual imagery and manifestations of violence and their different combinations.
 Immediately at the second scene of Gaga's third concert in Finland included simulated sex after which Gaga shot her parter of the act. After this, she moved to birth new life out of giant, inflatable woman's lower body, on which was projected a face for a moment, which seemed quite like Madonna.
Lady Gaga paid back with interest the Gaga-mockery which her "big sister" performed two weeks ago at her Olympic stadium show.

The major differencies between the queen of pop and the crown princess were highlighted at the show's musical offering, and  in Gaga's even more close interact with her fans.
 As a talented interpreter Gaga did not rely on backing tapes, instead sang most of the songs live. She also accompanied herself with electric piano on a solo number, which offered a taste of the upcoming album, The Artpop: built on a simple melody, Princess Die was not over-energetic dance pop, but a beautiful ballad.

Unlike most superstars, Lady Gaga climbed down to the "audience level" on a number of occasions of her show. For example, she sat down on the edge of the stage and took up stuff fans in the front row throwed her.
From a wallet flown in her lap, she grabbed a credit card, slipped it into a pocket of her biker-vest and said she was going to go shopping, a moment later bursting into a hysterical make-up dripping laughter: "I don't need your money, I just want your soul and your love!"
 We were in the heart of role model and brand building: go over to your audience, do not turn yourself into something unrecognizable.

For the fashion freaks the show offered such a load of eye candy that it would be enough to digest even if the show had been performed mute. If she wanted Gaga would have a chance to spring up the careers of even a couple of local designers during one concert by only flashing in their clothing, but reportedly on Born This Way tour the star has been seen mainly in Giorgio Armani's creations.
These were in their fantasticality in the league of their own: during the Bloody Mary song Gaga appeared like a mutant dropped from space and wrapped in haute couture, in Government Hooker like a giant insects.

It would be interesting to see how Stefani Germanotta could match the conditions of a concert without profusely dispensed sexual provocation. Would it drift a product called Lady Gaga into an identity crisis?
Probably not, because merely in musical gifts and acting skills Gaga has more than enough to spare. Because she's soon made two world tours every couple of years based on the same spiritual essence of imagery and megalomania, the question is: what next?
 A third as pompous and underlining provocative world tour would be repeating herself, and would begin to brittle the power and glamor of the Gaga-fantasy character.

The song Electric Chapel, played with a rock band between glowing crosses showed that it could be natural for Gaga to do a rock band tour. In her case, it would not be conservative, but surprising, and after all the role-play and props it would be a truly bold move. But above all, it would be something which Madonna would hardly ever dare to go.