Lollapalooza 2010: Lady Gaga

From the very start of the day on Friday at Lollapalooza, it was nearly impossible to walk through the festival grounds without hearing people emphatically hyping Lady Gaga’s set, and it was even harder to not walk straight into one of the countless Lady Gaga lookalikes that made their way down to pay homage. Of course, the skeptic would wonder how something so overhyped could even live up. Well, leave it to Lady Gaga to find a way.

Never before has it been so hard to describe a live performance. Thinking back on it now, it all seems like a really fucked up blur brought on by some terrible drugs. To give some idea of what occurred during Gaga’s two hour set that closed out the day you would need the following things: a fireworks display, lots of sparkling things, an inflatable monster that had the phrase “don’t rape me” yelled at it, fake blood, insane dancing, a dance break that involved Metallica’s “Metal Militia”, wardrobes that both bordered on nudity and also shot sparks, numerous set and design changes that featured the eeriest of videos and insane spoken word. Oh yeah! There was some music played too.

At times it felt as if Gaga was putting on an elaborate play that held some sort of clandestine meaning, but for the most part it just helped define the term “batshit crazy.” Through all of this it lent credence to her determination to not hold anything back, and go all out when she has a large crowd watching. By the time Gaga’s set came to a close it seemed as if the only way to sum it up in writing would be to type 300 question marks and leave it at that. It’s a spectacle that has never been attempted, and has never been pulled off in such an epic way. I’m sure many spectators never thought they’d be surrounded by thousands of others as Lady Gaga sang “Paparazzi” as she fought a large inflatable “fame monster” that could only be killed if the audience snapped enough photos of it. Yeah…it would have made sense if you were there.

-David Anthony