We held a hopeful chance of catching some latex couture when we reported on Lady Gaga’s opening day set at the Coachella festival this summer. And we did see some in the stage costumes the Queen of the Little Monsters wore at that UK summer show, a preview of her UK/American Mayhem Ball Tour. Just recently, we Gaga fans got even a better glimpse of what all Joanne Angelina Germanotta is taking on the road, with the official kick-off of her Mayhem Ball occurring Wednesday night last week at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
As she revealed at Coachella, Lady Gaga’s concert this time was divided into four acts, with respective costuming, set pieces, and dancers…and song upon song. Some of these include “Bad Romance,” “Poker Face,” “Applause,” and “Million Reasons,” to name but a few. Pretty much working off a gothic aesthetic throughout, the lady and her dancers were dressed in lots of black and red, creamy white lace, sporting prosthetics (those long fingers we saw used before), bony spikes augmenting clothes, and masks and long trains.
And yes, there is latex.
Highlights (of which we really can only list a few, as there were just too many) included:
The opening of Gaga in a pure Gothic set, dressed in red which she slowly unraveled from.
Strutting down the center of her runway in silver crutches, trailing a gauzy white train that flowed behind her, and featuring rainbow colors splashed on the cape during the song “Paparazzi.”
Singing among spooky skeletal remains on a huge set with an oversized skull and staircase.
‘Floating’ downstream ala The Phantom of the Opera during the song “Shallow,” from A Star is Born. In the boat she sat in to sing the song, Gaga was piloted by a gondolier dressed in head-to-toe red (not only Lady Gaga is dressed to kill during this show), while Gaga was in a hooded sparkly black.
And during the last song, Gaga took cameras backstage to film her removing her makeup and costume, to return to the stage in a “Cramps” t-shirt, beanie, and sunglasses.
As expected, Gaga’s ‘Little Monsters’ outfitted themselves in unique couture for the evening, as well. Some even rivalling their grande dame. Wildly imaginative masks, recreations of famous Gaga wardrobes—the iconic Alexander McQueen she wore to the 2009 MTV VMAs, her 2010 Philip Treacy lobster hat—were well represented, plus much more.
As Lady Gaga herself said about this tour, “…with The MAYHEM Ball, I wanted to create a different kind of experience — something more intimate — closer, more connected — that lends itself to the live theatrical art I love to create.”
And it seems she has.
