2010 ➤ Manc agog at Gaga’s Monster Ball tour

Gary Ryan’s eyes were out on stalks last night for Lady Gaga’s concert in Manchester’s MEN Arena – here’s a taste of his review for City Life

Gaga on tour with her merry men: Has she just killed Madonna?

❚ THOSE WHO MIGHT DOUBT THE LIBERATING FORCE for good Lady Gaga represents need have only glanced around the audience of her Monster Ball tour. Everywhere you look, there are women with their faces painted in the singer’s lightning flash make-up, and men wearing so much kohl, they resemble the Hamburgler.

At its core, the concept of the show is that she’s a Pied Piper for the misfits and the freaks; and has created the show as a place where “you can be free”. It’s heartening when you remember that ten years ago, the same audience would have been watching S-Club…

“You know what I hate more than money?”, says the woman who is charging £70 per ticket. “The truth.” It shows: she works harder to maintain a smoke-and-full-length-mirrors aura than any other act around. And, with an ambition and confidence that suggests she’s just killed Madonna and is wearing her skin as a tribal pelt, this night proves she’s the first true pop icon of the 21st century.

➢➢ READ Gary Ryan’s full review for City Life

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