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Rating: Turin, November 9, 2010, 5:30 PM. Here I am, entering Turin and facing the tedious traffic that spreads from the Ring Road to the main Roads. My lack of cunning prevents me from parking the car near the Palaolimpico, so it is necessary to cross a few blocks before reaching it. The overall city atmosphere is relaxed, and nothing seems to foreshadow the entry of the almost-newcomer Stefani Germanotta into the Piedmontese capital. This presage is promptly contradicted by the chaos created in front of the entrances of the Isozaki Sports Palace, with long queues, the usual stalls with T-shirts and other unofficial products dedicated to the event's protagonist, police officers, first aid volunteers.... Anyone unaware of Miss Germanotta's concert will surely start to suspect the arrival of a true Big of the music biz, with a not insignificant amount of albums and hit singles to their name, in short, an artist with a long and enviable career. Yet here we are talking about a semi-newcomer, who cannot boast even two studio works (the most recent The Fame Monster being an EP).
The aforementioned crowd in front of the Stadium already provides a fundamental demonstration of the enormous popularity that GaGa has gained in just two years since her debut. But let's move on and get to the heart of the GaGa-made evening.
The Germanotta spirit takes form slightly with the live performance of the Semi Precious Weapons, a glam rock band called to open the show, with the front-man strategically dressed in feminine attire, complete with high heels, a studded jacket, a fringed dress, performing pieces that are actually charming and incisive. Moreover, with an attempt (quite successful) to heat the already seated and accommodating crowd with huffing and cheering in honor of the most famous Lady. The pre-show by the Semi Precious Weapons foretells the highly kitsch, glam, and crazy content of the "Monster Ball Tour", the same that for 12 months has been inflaming stadiums around the world. Including Italy.
The GaGa show begins abruptly, almost unexpectedly for the same guests of the PalaIsozaki, with the deafening and engaging video clip of Dance In The Dark, specially created for the tour, functioning as an exciting club-like prelude to the song. And here she is, on a platform, Miss GaGa, purple jacket, as fashionable and extravagant as ever, golden straight hair (with a slight brown regrowth), performing the opening song amidst the screams and joyful frenzy of those who have come to the show. The atmosphere, already warm, heats almost to boiling point and Stefani, now perfectly visible, presents her dance crew and an artistic set recalling the style of clubs, with colored lights and lasers, neon signs, stairs, beams. The art digged up in the most brazen kitsch is completed by the performances of Glitter And Grease and her first hit Just Dance, before which Miss GaGa opened the bonnet of a bizarre car brought to the stage, starting to play a hypothetical keyboard contained inside. The Fame sees the Italo-American singer dabbling with an electric guitar that she strums mercilessly, deliberately and paroxysmally distorting the overall sound.
But it is the scandalous Exorcist Interlude, a much-talked-about clip separator, that contributes to raising the roar of the "Little Monsters" to a unanimous level: here's Lady GaGa, chicly dressed, yet with her lower limbs absurdly opposed to her torso, serious, inflexible, accompanied by a remix/reprise of Dance In The Dark. Suddenly, the sudden appearance of a strange female figure who provokes herself to vomit a glittery blue and turns towards Miss Germanotta. Scandalous, isn’t it? And then: GaGa devouring a bleeding heart (certainly a reference to the line He ate my heart from the song Monster, ed.), GaGa, as if she were a statue, modified and wrapped by a curious little man...
The second tranche of the show figuratively reopens the dances with Stefani Joanne Angelina, dressed in an extravagant transparent plastic dress and a white veil, arriving with her team of dancers on a futuristic track to the notes of LoveGame and Boys Boys Boys. Here GaGa is absent for a short time, leaving the management of the show to the dancers, only to return later, with a long, dark (and flashy) trench coat, to perform Money Honey, in hand a futuristic triangular keyboard. The choreographies grow in theatricality and the emotional involvement of the spectators is at its peak, especially with the performance of Telephone, in my opinion, the highest peak reached by the artist: the dance performances and GaGa's grating voice show in a very tasty combination of music and show à la mode of Madonna, her clear muse.
The intimacy between Lady Germanotta and her fans is about to climb to the parabolic point of maximum: with the proposal of the romantic ballad Speechless and the likely song from the future album Born This Way (also announced by GaGa herself during the show) You And I, the chaotic atmosphere that dominated so far calms down, and the show takes on lyrical and melancholic traits. With the help of a piano from which a tongue of flame paradoxically emerges, Miss GaGa is committed to communicating with fans, expressing themes such as freedom, love, and life, uttering some words in Italian (Piccoli Mostri, our domestic translation of the more cosmopolitan gag saying Little Monsters), as well as talking about her love for the Bel Paese (of course, she's Italo-American!), her Italian roots, her recently deceased grandfather who would politely prevent the family from touching food before sitting at the table composedly.
These are the most moving and romantic moments of the show, the Lady's skill at the piano, her rough and deep vocal tone are two of the elements that offer these less noisy performances unanimous positivity. Furthermore, what strikes is the ability of the artist, who I repeat is a semi-newcomer, to communicate effectively with the audience and actively involve them within the show, a talent that is certainly a point in favor of her career continuation.
So Happy I Could Die allows GaGa to retrieve extravagant attire, that is, a fairy-like look complete with little wings, effectively ending the second part of the performances.
The last phase of the show is fully centered on the theme of the "monstrosity" of fame and of life itself: the performances of Monster, Teeth, and the famous Alejandro foresee a ghostly horror-themed setting with spectral bare trees as the backdrop. The hit of hits Poker Face allows for a beastly explosion of approval, just like the bizarre Paparazzi, during which Miss Germanotta even fights with a fake giant monstrous fish spraying colored lights and swaying towards the center of the stage.
The wait for the grand finale is enjoyed with the vision on the screens of the fans crowded on the floor, shouting, joyful, holding posters in honor of the star, waving fake gadgets of the star. And here comes the queen of clubs Bad Romance, here is GaGa on an original rotating gyroscope, dancers, and choreography to the extreme hyperbole, all intent on making the show unique and unrepeatable. In the end, without contraptions, devices, or mechanical tricks, Mrs. Germanotta humbly descends from the back of the stage, her dancers must continue for a short time with extreme and arduous dances, before total eclipse.
Lady GaGa: love or hate. There is no alternative. However, there exists an excellent performing and entertaining talent absolutely astounding for an almost novice. The fan of Madonna in me would scream at the indignation and plagiarism of Stefani towards the Ciccone: the inspiration from the Queen of Pop is evident in the moves, in the theatricality of the show, conceived like an export work of art. Nonetheless, GaGa still has a long way to go to glimpse even remotely the heights reached by Miss Ciccone; for sure the vision of the Monster Ball Tour in Turin confirms the great desire for renewal, maturation, and positive evolution on the Lady’s part, aimed at recovering the "chameleon-like" quality of her superior.
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