Imagine standing right smack in the middle of a noisy, slightly rowdy (at least where I was!) and sweaty crowd for three whole hours without any chance to sit down or relax or anything at all, because that’s what I had to do on Wednesday when I went for the Lady Gaga concert at Fort Canning Park! But was it worth it? Well…. Kind of. Let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t pay the full price of $88 (or was it $98?) or, worse yet, $100+ (for those who bought it directly at the door).
We arrived at Fort Canning Park at ~6:45pm (gates open at 7pm or something) just to be greeted by an insanely long queue that snaked all the way through the park pathway to the carpark and out towards the entrance (hard to describe, but it was LOOOOOOONG). And it was a humid evening too, oh woe. At least they gave out some non-Gaga related hand fans (I think it was promoting the F1 race? Not sure, I lost mine in the midst of all the chaos), which we could use to -kind of- fend off the heat. This just reminds me of the time when I was a child and I suggested building an air-conditioned dome to enclose Singapore (similar to what happened in The Simpsons movie?). HEY if it actually happened, we’d all be living in pure comfort, man. FORGET REALITY FOR A SECOND and just think about it! Awesome, eh?
Anyway, we finally got in after quite a while of standing around. When we entered, it was already half-filled and we ALREADY felt suffocated. All-in-all, I think there was like 10,000 people in the audience? MADNESS, I tell you. So for about an hour and a half (until about ~8.45pm I think), we were ‘entertained’ (I use this word lightly) by DJ Inquisitive and some beatboxer, after which a huge white cloth dropped down and everyone cheered because we all thought - IT’S STARTING! Yeah well, way to let us down, because we ended up staring at THIS for about 45 minutes. It got so bad that someone near me even said “Man, I think this is the concert” and when someone came out to ask if we were having a good time, everyone replied “NOOOO”. Hilarious!
Then, at 9:30pm, after waiting almost THREE HOURS in total (counting queuing time), SHE CAME OUT. And all was forgiven (well, mostly). I can’t say I feel the same way about her anymore, but at least I managed to take a few decent shots (yeah this time I brought my DSLR) and videos (with awful audio, but still)! Way too many to post all, so I’ll just upload a couple:
And this is just 1/10th of the photos I took at her concert (I had nearly 100 but to upload everything here would be crazy! The actual performance was short though - only about 40 minutes (yes, it was rather disappointing!) She started the show with her Candy Warhol short movie (which makes NO SENSE whatsoever) that was played at her exclusive showcase earlier this year (I went for that one too, so I was REALLY afraid that she was just going to do the same thing and leave… which meant $70 wasted to watch a rerun. THANK GOD it wasn’t exactly the same).
After that strange excerpt (where she combs her hair a lot and talks to someone with a faux - or at least sounds that way - British accent), the concert really began, with all her typical songs - Paparazzi, Just Dance, LoveGame etcetc, and ended with, as always, POKER FACE.
Overall, not too bad! I just wish it could have been less packed (the showcase was way better because at least it was crowded BUT air-conditioned!) and longer. Have a heart! It’s hot out, everyone’s thirsty and it’s been a long and tiring day for all of us. If you’re going to perform for only 40 minutes, please don’t make us wait two and a half hours. You’re not that worth it. At least what she lacks in punctuality, she makes up with flair and WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD costumes such as this thing that I can only describe as DONUT NECK! With weirdness like that, you just can’t stay angry too long.
P.S. Lady Gaga’s going to be on the cover of hype - NP’s very own magazine! Yep we managed to land ourselves an interview with her, as well as attend the press conference and everything. Pretty exciting really. So be sure to pick up one of those magazines if you see it around!