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| Lady Gaga |
I'm not a big Lady Gaga fan. Much like country music, heavy metal, rap & hockey, I appreciate the genres but I'd never buy a ticket to see any of them. The beauty of my job is I get to see the inner workings of these events and have a deep appreciation for things other than just the music or sport.
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| Big Monster |
Much like Bon Jovi, Gaga has a couple of early entry groups. One was a VIP Gold Hot Seat which was a ticket package that entitled them to a VIP room. The second group was the Little Monsters. They got to enter the floor 15 minutes before the general public to jockey for positioning along her stage. I had so much fun watching, interacting, tweeting, being entertained by these guys. The outfits ranged from jeans and a tee to full blown costumes. I admire the commitment and bravery it takes to pull off some of this. For me, simply diverging from my traditional black
Talbots is what I consider fearless.
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| Best people watching all year |
The production team Gaga had was stellar. Yes, we had challenges throughout the day but they didn't freak out. They treat us with respect and get the fact that they're 'in our house' and work with us as a team to accomplish the same goal. That doesn't always happen. More often that not we get the I'm-gonna-get-what-I-want-by-being-an-asshole attitude. Either way the job gets done but it's so much more fun when you work with people who 'get it.' And the people who aren't assholes get what they want a whole lot faster than those who are.
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| DJ opener |
Gaga has a female DJ to kind of warm up the crowd. I caught her enough to take a quick pic. Reminds me of a rave club DJ, not that I've ever been to one. The crowd was still trickling in. Aside from the early entry, the arena was only about 1/2 full.
Opening for Gaga around 8.30ish was Scissor Sisters. Admittedly I've never heard of them but prior to the show started following them on Twitter. I'm actually bummed I missed them because judging by their interactions with fans on Twitter, I might have enjoyed it. I was dealing with typical fight night stuff: handling guests, managing employee gripes, taking care of VIPs (or people who think they're VIPs and aren't but I don't have the heart to tell them they're not) and hanging with the crew.
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| Gaga appears |
Gaga hit the stage around 9.45p, late. But she hit with flair. Her show is a mish-mash of your typical concert, theatre, broadway & performance art. I know everyone compares her to Madonna but when you see her show it's hard not to. And I don't think that's a bad thing. She is ripped like an athlete, dances like a stripper on a pole and sings the crap out of her songs. I only caught about 4 songs but liked what I saw. The energy from the crowd was definitely helping the overall vibe. The Little Monsters love their leader.
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| GA floor |
The show is a GA floor meaning: no seats, everyone stood. I used to hate shows like this but I'm growing fonder of them. Security hates them because when there is a problem it's so hard to get to it quickly. And because people are drinking and standing in close proximity for such long periods of time, people always pass out. But what's cool for me on GA floor shows is we create 'moats' on both sides of the floor. Kinda like safety corrals so we have unobstructed lanes from the back of the arena all the way up to stage right and left. I love these lanes because I can move around the floor quickly without bumping into people.
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| Virgin Moble m&g winner |
It's no surprise to anyone that Gaga is extremely pro-GLBT. She does a gag in her show where she calls an audience member from her (tour sponsored Virgin Mobile) phone. It's actually kinda cool. His phone rings, spotlight hits him, his face hits the screens and he freaks out. It was actually really heartwarming. He was so excited he started to cry. "I am here because of you. This is why we all love you Gaga!" I think he was from Brazil. He was so adorable. He got to be a part of the meet & greet after the show.
I had pre-arranged with the tour rep to have my meet & greet guests escorted stage right after Paparazzi. From there they'd watch the final 2 songs and be brought backstage immediately. If you've never been stage right or left for a major concert, it's kinda cool. The sight lines are awful and it's just full of production people but it makes you feel kinda special.
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| Kids waiting for Gaga m&g |
I was in the middle of dealing with a guest so I hustled backstage to meet up with them after the show. I had 1 Japanese couple who just got married and 2 girls who's daddy was a player. They were all adorable. This meet & greet was approved at the last minute so none of them knew it was happening until they arrived. The bride didn't even have anything for Gaga to sign so she had her sign her purse. In all honesty, if our casino thought it was important enough to get her into it, she could afford to buy a new one. The 2 girls were about 18 and very sweet. From Oklahoma I think. Somewhere in the south. Thick accent. The newlyweds and teenage girls were the 2nd & 3rd groups to meet Gaga. The first was the Virgin Mobile winner. He was even cuter in person. It's amazing what an effect Gaga has on these kid's lives. She gives them hope thru music. Being gay now isn't what it was 30 years ago. We've come a long way but it still can't be easy in some communities. The never ending bullying and self-destruction is devastating to so many kids and families. It give me hope that someone like Gaga can inspire and truly tell these kids to hang in there. You were Born This Way and it's ok.
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Paparazzi (actually legit press)
waiting for escort to shoot show |
After my guests did the meet & greet we started to walk out of the dressing room hallway when the tour rep called out my name. He wanted them to hang out because Gaga wanted to give them some bracelets. They were just those rubber things a la Lance Armstrong but the fact that she didn't want them to leave without giving them something was really insightful to me. She wasn't just going thru the motions of the pics and autographs. I've seen enough of them to know. She was actually looking AT these kids. Powerful stuff for a petite thing who wears meat.
I'm still not a big fan of her music but I'm a huge fan of her message. Well done Lady Gaga. Well done.
For more (terrible) pics from my (terrible) work BlackBerry camera head to my
Facebook Gaga pic page.
Set List
Dance In The Dark
Glitter And Grease
Just Dance
Beautiful, Dirty, Rich
The Fame
Love Game
Boys Boys Boys
Money Honey
Telephone
You And I
Monster
Teeth
Alejandro
Pokerface
Paparazzi
Bad Romance
Born This Way
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