Lady Gaga urges Houston fans to ‘protect each other’
Lady Gaga has built her career on slowly and purposefully revealing the facets of her talent. Dance-pop starlet and Mother Monster. Jazz chanteuse and Oscar winner. Gayrights activist and Oreo inspiration.
The Chromatica Ball is built the same way. Gaga’s current tour reveals itself over five acts, progressing Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park from a stoic gray intro to pop vibrancy to emotional piano confessionals. It was captivating and exhausting, in the best way, to watch.
Houston holds a special place in Gaga’s heart. She performed here for the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show. That same year, her friend Sonja Durham, who was from Houston, died after battling breast, brain and lung cancer. Gaga dedicated “Always Remember Us This Way” from “A Star Is Born” to Durham, whom she worked with for several years.
“I loved her so much. I still do,” Gaga said. Her voice cracked, and she wiped away tears as the crowd chanted “Sonja.”
“I’ll remember us in our backyard, twirling our hair, drinking rosé and pinot grigio.”
Gaga also echoed statements she made last month in Arlington about hoping Texas will “go blue” and elect Democratic nominee Beto O’Rourke as governor. She didn’t mention specific names or subjects. But during the song
“The Edge of Glory,” Gaga admitted that, “tonight, as a woman, I’m feeling some type of way.”
“This whole state, I have so much love for this state. And the truth is, we all deserve a voice. Everybody deserves a voice,” Gaga said. “But I think sometimes we get stuck in our principles. I don’t think it’s always about what we believe. I think sometimes we have to be faced with those hard questions about how to protect people, protect each other.”
She asked the crowd to “say a prayer with me” by singing “Angel Down,” a song “about America.” Gaga was inspired to write it after the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Black teenager who was shot and killed in Florida in 2012 by George Zimmerman.
It was clear what she was referring to, even without specifics, and fans picked up on it. Some shouted expletives alongside Gov. Greg Abbott’s name. He signed the most restrictive abortion law in the country, with no exceptions for rape and incest, before the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
The show really started hours before Gaga appeared. Fans camped out the night before to get a good spot near the stage, where runways careened through pits of little monsters. Everywhere you looked, there were platform shoes and harnesses, glitter and Chromatica pink hair.
Gaga herself arrived in a couture cocoon of sorts to the rah-rahs of “Bad Romance.” It’s a bold move to start a show with what is arguably your signature song. It’s also a guaranteed way to supercharge the crowd. They were up and screaming at the top of their lungs as the outfit was slowly peeled away by dancers.
She followed it with “Just Dance” and “Poker Face,” ensuring the energy stayed at peak level. Flames shot high into the air from onstage and on the floor. You could literally feel the heat on your face.
Gaga kept a stern stance as she spun on what looked like a stone operating table during “Alice.” She loosened up a bit during “Replay” and “Monster” before snapping into full pop-star shimmer during “Sour Candy” and “Telephone.” Early single “LoveGame” benefited from a cranked-up rock guitar.
“Put your (expletive) hands up!” she bellowed several times during the two-hour performance.
She was offstage and walking through the crowd during “Free Woman,” eventually making her way to a piano at the back of the venue floor. She dedicated a reworked
“Born This Way” to the LGBTQ+ community, moving from the piano to the familiar dance-pop arrangement. “I want you to celebrate your pride tonight,” Gaga told the crowd. It inspired one of the night’s most enthusiastic singalongs.
“Shallow,” the Oscar-winning power ballad from “A Star Is Born,” was peak Gaga. Dressed as a shiny purple insect, a lacy mask covering her eyes, she still executed the song with the necessary earnestness and awe-inspiring vocal power.
“After a global pandemic, you all showed up here,” she said. Paws up, indeed.