Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Ball Review: A behemoth return to form for mother monster

Lady Gaga performing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium- Picture Source: Jonathan Black

Chronic body pain, persistent injuries and the Coronavirus global pandemic had meant that it had been eight long years since Lady Gaga, affectionately known as ‘Mother Monster’ by her legions of devotees, had graced a stage in London. The barren spell came to a thunderous end, when the 13-time Grammy winner, brought her Chromatica Ball Tour to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – selling out two dates, with an estimated 90,000 fans in attendance over the weekend.

The tour had initially been scheduled for summer 2020, shortly after the release of her 6th album, Chromatica. The album itself received widespread adulation upon its release in May 2020; garnering both critical acclaim and substantial commercial success. Its second single ‘Rain on Me’, a duet with pop princess Ariana Grande, would go on to top the US Billboard chart, giving Gaga her 4th number 1 single, and opening her up to a new, younger audience.

However, Gaga confessed that the process of creating the album was incredibly painful; indeed, critics and fans alike noted the album’s significantly darker themes than its twee predecessor ‘Joanne’. Whilst Chromatica’s themes may have been macabre lyrically, conversely its production was exuberant, fun, and camp. Filling clubs with its siren’s call to arms, with clear instructions: dance your pain away. With Chromatica, Gaga made a record to cry on the dance floor to, yet it would be months before fans could do so – due to the pandemic – and years before Gaga could join them.

Therefore, when time came and the moons and the stars of Chromatica aligned, Gaga brought her ball to London and disappoint she did not. Dystopic and brutalist, the epic concrete effect stage resembles a Fritz Langian nightmare in its starkness. The show opens with a lengthy, macabre prelude, directed by long term collaborator Nick Knight. Gaga is beamed from colossal, gilded screens, much like a scene from Blade Runner, as she addresses her loyal subjects before appearing encased in a gruesome sculpture, spinning ceaselessly on a plinth. This is Gaga at her best; provocative, bizarre and outlandish and the crowd adore it. She immediately launches into her 2009 number one hit ‘Bad Romance’ to begin a relentless 120-minute set, with the unremitting gusto and vigour of the Gaga of old.

The behemoth show is divided into five acts, with the first devoted to her earlier hits, and the latter to Chromatica’s tracks – many of which are being performed live for the first time. Multiple costume changes, puzzling interludes, and high-tempo choreography ensue as Gaga feeds her ravenous followers a cornucopia of delight. The pace only slows when Gaga takes to the piano to perform reworked hits and a collection of her classic ballads. Here she thanks the audience for their patience, apologises for her cancellations and confesses her undying love for her loyal little monsters.

The pace soon picks-up again as Gaga returns to perform a cluster of dance tracks, before finally closing affairs with an epic rendition of her latest single, ‘Hold my Hand,’ complete with air guitar solo and enormous flames – which Gaga vaults over in a dramatic conclusion. Detractors, doubting Alejandros and, at one point, even Gaga herself, questioned whether she would be capable of such performances again following her physical setbacks. Yet, with her fortitude, steely determination, and passion for art, Gaga continues to prove that she is the star she always was. Chromatica is certainly not her final frontier.

5/5 Stars