“Little monsters, show me your teeth!”

Thus spoke Lady Gaga…

Little monsters (as Lady Gaga likes to refer to her fans) from all over Ireland started queuing outside the O2 from early morning on Saturday the 20^th to assume prime positions by the stage for the gig. I arrived at the O2 just after 7pm and the queues were insane, so I’m glad I didn’t queue early! The atmosphere was electric while the crowds waited outside, with several groups of girls entertaining the troops with their renditions of Bad Romance. As we spilled into the venue once the doors opened, the buzz among the crowd grew palpable.

Alphabeat

Semi Precious Weapons kicked off proceedings with some strange yet oddly brilliant songs about champagne and another one about being pregnancy or something… All I know, is they were well chosen to be Lady Gaga’s support act. Next up were Alphabeat (left), who played a few tracks from their upcoming album The Beat Is, before getting the whole crowd dancing with Fascination.

And then the wait for Our Lady began…and continued through many repeats of Michael Jackson songs…And then we waited some more… It wasn’t any more than an hour’s wait, but people were so excited that it felt like forever. Eventually, each time a track ended, excitement would rise until the first bars of Beat It started through the sound system, and the wait continued…

But then the lighting dimmed some more, and a countdown began on the curtain. After the crowd counted down the final 10 seconds of the count, the curtain dropped, the music Dance in Dark began and she appeared.

There is actually nothing I can fault with the entire performance. Vocally she was amazing, especially during Telephone and Speechless. The sets were visually stunning (and would make me believe the rumours that she is hemorrhaging money due to spending so much on all her stage equipment) and the continuity of the performance was fantastic. This was done in the format of her and her friends trying to get to the Monster Ball, but they kept encountering obstacles along the way, including “Gay-boy dancers”!! The costumes were out of this world, and exactly what we have come to expect from this hugely talented performer.

Her interaction with the crowd was great, and it was far removed from the usual “OMG DUBLIN YOU’RE SO AMAZING I LOVE YOU GUYS AGGGGGHHHHHH” you so often encounter from major international acts. Instead, she laughed, told stories and interacted really well. As well as proving just how nutty she really is. My favourite bit of the entire gig was when she was sitting at the piano and turned to the crowd and said “I’m so glad that I play the songs that you guys like. Because I know that if I didn’t, you’d all throw things at me. Like glitter. And shame…” Brilliant.

She went out with a bang at the end of the night, having saved the two best songs until last, Poker Face and Bad Romance. The entire O2 was singing and dancing along to what are undoubtedly the strongest singles from her library. When Gaga comes to town she blesses us all with her madness; her energetic, infectious madness.

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