{"id":330516,"date":"2025-12-06T01:05:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T01:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330516\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T01:05:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T01:05:06","slug":"lady-gaga-review-the-mayhem-ball-shows-mother-monster-is-still-the-reigning-queen-of-spectacle-lady-gaga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330516\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady Gaga review \u2013 the Mayhem Ball shows Mother Monster is still the reigning queen of spectacle | Lady Gaga"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Lady Gaga<\/a> is carted on stage atop a crinoline structure that resembles both a red velvet cake and a toilet roll doll cozy she states her dictum: \u201cDance or die\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mother Monster\u2019s ruling sets into motion an operatic 150-minute show \u2013 her first in Australia since the artRAVE in August of 2014. For the entirety of the Mayhem Ball, Gaga careens between dancing and dying in what she calls her \u201cgothic dream\u201d \u2013 although it often reads more Halloween. Skeletons abound \u2013 no doubt a homage to the late Gaga muse Rick Genest, otherwise known as Zombie Boy. At times it\u2019s downright Hitchcockian, Gaga a veritable Kim Novak as she switches between blond and brunette selves with each wig change.<\/p>\n

And while \u201ddance or die\u201d sounds like an offer, there is really only one choice at a Lady Gaga concert. The phrase comes from her wall-to-wall pop incantation Abracadabra \u2013 a song rife with the sort of career-defining monosyllabic babble only she could convince us to sing along to. This single in particular, the crown jewel of her latest record, Mayhem,<\/a> set into motion what has been heralded as a return to form.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s had to fight for it. In the 11 years since she last performed in Australia, Gaga\u2019s course as an artist has been marred by her chronic pain, which developed after she broke her hip<\/a> aged 26 on stage in Montreal during the Born this Way Ball.<\/p>\n

The song she was singing in that moment \u2013 electroclash deep-cut Schei\u00dfe, a song she sings in almost-German conlang \u2013 is performed in the thrilling first act of Gaga\u2019s latest memento mori, alongside beloved Born This Way tracks like Bloody Mary and Judas.<\/p>\n

In the second act, she takes it a step further, this time with crutches. Invoking Mugler\u2019s costuming from her stellar Paparazzi music video, she once again dons chrome armour. After shuffling her way down the stage singing the familiar chorus, she discards the crutches and raises her arms to release yards of wind-swept white chiffon. It\u2019s a moment of perverse irony and self-aggrandisement that somehow leaves the stadium breathless.<\/p>\n

Much of the Mayhem Ball revolves around the pop star\u2019s experiences with chronic pain. Photograph: Samir Hussein\/Getty Images for Live Nation<\/p>\n

On the stage, Gaga does not look back \u2013 but it\u2019s difficult for her fans not to. With each waver in the performer\u2019s physical strength came a noticeably diminished verve for making pop music (anyone remember the distended House of Gucci?). In March, Gaga revealed that she suffered psychosis around the release of her last album, 2020\u2019s Chromatica, and had lost touch with reality. More recently she told Rolling Stone that in 2017 she made A Star Is Born while taking lithium to calm her mania.<\/p>\n

She mentions all this as a way of declaring Mayhem her dignified turning point. For those of us who love her deeply, it\u2019s a great relief to see her having a good time again. With the Mayhem Ball she has risen to the occasion, well above the foibles of her newer material. At the piano in Marvel Stadium, she unearthed some old material too, surprising her audience by playing an unreleased demo, Brooklyn Nights \u2013 a song she hasn\u2019t sung since she was last in Melbourne<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the stupidly fun Garden of Eden she pointedly sings to her fans, \u201cI\u2019ve been feelin\u2019 this familiar feeling, like I\u2019ve known you my whol\u0435 life\u201d. Between songs she expresses her surprise earlier that day at seeing them on the streets outside the venue: \u201cYou were all grown up!\u201d The days of being a young rebel, a self-proclaimed twit and degenerate, are behind Gaga just as they are her audience.<\/p>\n

Some things remain unchanged. Gaga is still telling us to \u201cput your hands up\u201d \u2013 no less than 30 times at her Melbourne show last night. She is also resolute in her stance as a flagbearer for her queer audience \u2013 the pride colours literally projected on to her chiffon cape \u2013 and she dedicated the Mayhem Ball to the community that has stood with her since the very start. She also promised her Australian fans that she wouldn\u2019t let another 10 years lapse without showing up: \u201cI\u2019ll find a way. I don\u2019t give up easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her fans are still showing up for her; wrapped in caution tape, with cans in their hair, and cigarettes glued to sunglasses. One thing\u2019s for certain: with Gaga we\u2019ll be dancing till we\u2019re dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Lady Gaga is carted on stage atop a crinoline structure that resembles both a red velvet cake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-330516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}