Little Monsters

Oh Gaga.

The show last night was phenomenal. I was on cloud nine. I sometimes have a hard time getting excited about live shows, probably because crowds can make me anxious, but last night was the major exception. Whoever they are, the Haus of Gaga put on an incredible show and I'm so glad I had the chance to go (with an equally ecstatic date, of course).

The respect I have for Lady Gaga as a performer is probably the closest I'll ever get to fanaticism. She's a machine! She was a powerhouse on stage and the thought and attention to detail that went into the show was remarkable. Her outfits - especially the one with the armored gold bikini-esque piece paired with an Egyptian headdress (complete with Anubis ears) and the body suit made out of dissembled machine guns - aren't just revealing. They're cheeky deconstructions of the pop star as a sex symbol. Gaga was carried aloft by her hunky dancers as often as she "fought" them off in her choreography.

Gaga, apparently euphoric to hear about her 5 Grammy noms, declared her love for her fans - but she affectionately calls us her Little Monsters, and spent a lot of the show bating the audience. Her curtain call was part bow/part slouch, during which she bared her teeth at the crowd. And there was no encore, just an odd video close-up of her receiving a tattoo - the word "Dad" inside a heart - while some mournful sounding opera played. She kept the fans - many of whom dressed that night to pay her aesthetic homage - at arm's length.

The contant running of her defenses works for her, and enables the "risktaking" that makes her so fascinating as a pop artist. I'm so intrigued - and it doesn't hurt that her music is like a best-of-the-best amalgamation of pop from the past 20 years and she's got the chops to pull it off. I'm hooked.