Written by: Gracie Magguilli
One of the most highly anticipated tours of the summer is Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Ball. It's Gaga’s first time back on stage since canceling the 2018 Joanne tour; her fans have been anticipating this show for years. Initially scheduled for summer 2020, fans had to wait two years before the concert finally reached the stage. Lady Gaga's latest album Chromatica is full of songs that are very reminiscent of her early work and seems as if she is reclaiming the synth-pop sound for herself. After spending recent years making movies, the stakes have never been higher for her to deliver a show-stopping performance. On this tour, Gaga played her largest show ever in front of 76,000 fans in Paris on July 24th, 2022. And on August 19th, Gaga had the highest attended and highest earning show in Fenway Park history. Little monsters will be happy to know she did not disappoint! 🤩
Camp is not an unknown concept to Gaga or her fans. Since her rise to fame in the early 2000s, Gaga’s fans, named “Little Monsters,” have always been crucial to her brand and making the shows an unforgettable experience. She wisely takes advantage of this by providing fans in the pit and on the floor level light up colorful wristbands that make the fans a part of the elaborate light show.
Little Monsters have been going full camp for the show dressing up in some of the most outrageous and unique costumes that would make Mother Monster proud. It's part of what makes this show a world of its own! 🌟
Gaga described the show as the “museum of brutality” when discussing this tour, and she said that “...it documents the many stages and sides of grief”. A story told in 5 acts broken up by videos tells her journey and healing from the trauma she endured during her rise to stardom. Gaga is back, and it's like she never left! From the opening riff of “Bad Romance,” it's clear that she has not missed a step during her hiatus from live music. She performs some of her most popular numbers, “Bad Romance,” “Poker Face,” and “Just Dance,” all from within an avant-garde stone costume that illustrates the box she has been put in throughout her career.
She breaks out of this prison at the end of her third song, and while trapped at the top of the stage, her troupe of dancers performs routines that are a perfect mix of modern dance, hip-hop, and something that is distinctly Gaga. Without moving a muscle, she has the audience in the palm of her hand. 🎤
She then breaks into some of the tracks from Chromatica, “Alice,” “911,” and “Replay.” All of these have the same high standard of performance we expected from her, and there is no dancer out of place nor a single mistake made. Dressed in a floor-length gold robe during “Free Woman”, Gaga walks through the crowd as she makes her way towards the B stage that holds a grand piano.
During one section of the show, she performed stripped-down versions of hits like “Born This Way,” and “Shallow” from A Star is Born. During this section, she begs her fans to love themselves and has a candid conversation with them about how writing this album was healing for her, and she hopes it can also provide healing to them. 🎹
While this show is a little darker than past Gaga shows with all the horror and insect-related costumes, by the end of the night, “Stupid Love” and “Rain On Me” really illustrate that this show is a party. As Gaga makes it clear in “Free Woman”, the world is her dance floor, and she is definitely going to use it. Her encore at the DC show was her newest song, “Hold My Hand,” which is in the new Top Gun: Maverick movie. When With the Band got to see this show live, it was clear how awe-inspired the audience was by this piece. The show ends with Gaga finishing the ballad clad in leather boots and a matching leather jacket surrounded by flames. 🔥
The Chromatica Ball is a celebration of Gaga’s accomplishments with a melancholy undertone of all the traumatic things she experienced to get to where she is today. This concert is a must-see for every Little Monster as Gaga proves once again she is one of the Queens of pop and is here to stay! 🙌
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