Lady Gaga gets Artpop Ball rolling
Lady Gaga kicked off the Australian leg of her latest touring spectacle, ArtRave: The Artpop Ball, at Perth Arena tonight.
Her latest album Artpop has been the lowest selling release of her explosive six-year career, and the public's disinterest showed with attendance appearing much less than the Arena's 15,000 capacity.
It was a far cry from just two years ago when the eccentric pop star sold out two shows at the now defunct Burswood Dome.
The lukewarm-received Artpop unfortunately dominated the setlist last night, with Gaga's groundbreaking pop singles, which made her one of the most successful artists of the digital era, few and far between.
Even some of the 28-year-old New York native's biggest hits - Pokerface, Just Dance and Telephone - were thrown together in a half-hearted medley.
But her small core group of diehard fans, know as Little Monsters, couldn’t care less, treating the singer as some form of pop cultural deity from the moment she arrived on stage in golden wings sporting a unitard with a blue orb attached to her chest to belt out Artpop’s title track.
"Perth Australia we have missed you," she screamed defiantly before second track G.U.Y, adding "get on your feet - don't waste your f..king money."
Picture: Paul Kane/Wire Image
As per her well-orchestrated airport and hotel arrivals, the costumes and wigs, including a polka-dot leotard with octopus tentacles, were the stars of this show.
Gaga’s decided to ignore most of her 2011 critically acclaimed Born This Way album, with the title track turned into a torch song ballad rather that the high-energy dance track that received widespread criticism for its comparisons to Madonna’s 1989 single Express Yourself.
While the lasers were almost epilepsy-inducing and stage was flashy with its Lucite runways, the concert felt like a middle of the road arena rock show rather than an artist who is fusing pop and raves with high-art as she told the crowd was her intention during one of the night’s many "motivational" speeches.
And for a singer that prides herself on her powerful vocal instrument, it was disappointing she relied so heavily on a backing track.
