Lady Gaga put on a bloody good show at the TD Garden Tuesday night. Parading around in controversial costumes (see transparent nude nun getup) and smearing her flesh with red goo, her Monster Ball Show accentuates her artsy elements, which have always seemed slightly at odds with her candy pop dance anthems.
The songs are the show’s biggest strength, and the setlist is carefully paced. A new ballad came at the exact moment where a breath was needed and “Bad Romance” nearly blew the roof off the sold out venue with thousands of simultaneous woah oh oh ohhhhs.
But where her sounds are by-the-book new classics and not necessarily pushing the envelope, she certainly does challenge with her theatrics. In concert she comes off like a cross between the Rumple Minze mascot and Missy Von Kimmelman from this “State” sketch.
OK, maybe those references are a little obscure. Anyway, although Gaga does employ a lot of visual shock tactics, the show itself is as much a pop concert as Michael Jackson or Madonna, with a whole slew of backup dancers filling up the empty spaces on the stage. One thing that struck me: Why do all choreographers insist on dressing dancers as post-apocalyptic punks? At least the house of Gaga did employ a little variety there, with a few costume changes the dancers at one point looked like fencers.
