Lady Gaga dazzling this way
Superstar speaks out for justice amid resplendent show at AT&T
Lady Gaga performed her first-ever show as a stadium headliner at San Francisco’s AT&T Park on Sunday, Aug. 13, and the timing could not have been better.
A day after the violence around the white supremacist march in Virginia, nearly 40,000 fans came to the outdoor concert with the expectation that “Mother Monster” would make her voice heard on the subject.
“I usually use this part of the show to shout out to the LGBTQ community,” Gaga said to the crowd in the middle of her two-hour set. “But tonight I cannot do just that. Tonight we must say hello and
a great welcome to every single person of every single type and color and background and religion that is here.
“Don’t worry, I’m not confused,” she continued. “I know I’m a white woman standing up here tonight saying that to you, but I promise you that I will speak love into this world every day and I will remind myself every single day to speak love to every color, to every background, to every religion no matter what. And I dare you to do the same.”
The concert came at the end of a busy weekend for music lovers in San Francisco, as the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival wound down in Golden Gate Park. Gaga was asked to perform at the 10th anniversary for the three-day music event, according to festival organizers, but turned it down in favor of her own concert, part of her “Joanne” world tour that kicked off in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Aug. 1.
After an electrifying performance where the singer jumped from new songs to old hits as easily as she jumped around the hydraulic stage in her Giuseppe Zanotti boots, the decision to go solo seems to have been the correct one.
The format of Gaga’s show owes more than a passing acknowledgment to the chameleonic female singers who paved the way for her. Tina Turner, Grace Jones, Cher and notably, Madonna (whom the singer has often been compared to) have been touring with similar concerts since the 1970s and ’80s, and the rhythms remain unchanged.
The multitude of costume changes (Gaga wore looks by San Francisco-born designers Alexander Wang and Zaldy, among others), athletic backup dancers, bigscreen projections and even pyrotechnics has become standard fare by now. But by comparison, Gaga’s show was relatively stripped down, with set pieces limited to a runway and bedazzled piano. No fireworks here; the singer’s command of her songs was the only special effect she and her audience needed.
The 31-year-old was in strong voice even as a chilling fog rolled off the bay and onto the field. The music on the folk-influenced “Joanne” album seems to have brought a fuller depth and richness to the singer’s lower register on new songs like the uptempo “John Wayne” and older hits like “Alejandro” and even club favorite “Just Dance.”
Although Gaga is not a natural dancer in the mode of a Beyoncé, Richard Jackson’s choreography and direction showed her doing what she does best in her videos: moving distinctly from one pose to another in rhythm. What was more impressive was how Gaga moved among the guitar, keytar and piano.
Perhaps no part of the show was more successful than the singer’s rendition of “Edge of Glory.” Seated at her piano, she belted out the ballad for fans who sang it back to her word for word.
Of course, they were primed and ready by that number.
Before Lady Gaga sang a single note, her fans were already putting on a show of their own throughout the stadium. The singer’s most ardent devotees, affectionately named “Little Monsters” by the pop diva, were out in full force with wardrobe inspired by some of Gaga’s most memorable looks two hours before their queen hit the stage.
Kristen Rendler and Jonathan Huynh of San Jose painted their faces in white Day of the Dead skull makeup and wore costumes that referenced the “Born This Way” music video. Rebecca Mosley of Redding drove four hours to San Francisco with her hair wrapped in Diet Coke cans a la Gaga’s costume from her “Telephone” duet with Beyoncé. And Candace Benting, also from Redding, said she spent hundred of dollars having the singer’s 2017 Grammy outfit (black leather hot pants and a breast-baring jacket with a spiked collar and sleeves) re-created especially for the night.
But among the many fashion statements honoring the singer at the packed concert, the most plentiful were the widebrim pink country hats, the signature look from Gaga’s latest release.
Although three expected songs were cut from the set list — “Bloody Mary,” “Dancin’ in Circles” and “Paparazzi” — Gaga ended strong. After a punchy rendition of “Bad Romance,” Gaga slowed things down to bring out her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, the director of Gaga’s inclusion-focused advocacy organization the Born This Way Foundation, before closing with “The Cure” and an encore featuring “Million Reasons.”
“They told me my show was too gay. Then I played the Super Bowl,” said Gaga, by now in a long Swarovski-crystalstudded wrap and, again, her pink cowboy hat, referring to her stunning Super Bowl 51 halftime show in Houston this year.
“I’m sorry,” she corrected herself. “We played the Super Bowl.”