Lady Gaga still throws the perfect party
Lady Gaga performs at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 21, 2011. Credit: WireImage
No matter what she says, Lady Gaga wasn't born this way.
Spectacles this big don't just happen. They arrive only through great talent and vision and even more hard work.
"Did you guys come to party tonight?" she asked before launching into her breakthrough hit "Just Dance."
She knew the answer, of course.
After all, the bulk of the show has remained essentially unchanged, a Broadway-styled musical about the quest for the perfect Manhattan party set to thumping dance music. In fact, it seems much sharper than it was in July when it first arrived at the Garden.
She opens singing "Dance in the Dark" behind a screen, performing "LoveGame" in a subway car. She outlines the themes of universal acceptance and the love of her fans, her Little Monsters. Even the Tinkerbell move - where she lies on the floor claiming that she will die without enough applause - remains intact.
However, she did unveil the title track of her forthcoming "Born This Way" album, starting with an a capella, four-part harmony version before kicking into the full-fledged dance anthem version that has already hit No. 1 in record-setting fashion.
On the Elton John-ish piano ballad "You and I," also from her "Born This Way," she showed that even when the song is simple, she can still make it arena-worthy (even if the FDNY nixed her usual ending of torching of the piano.)
It's a plan that is working much better than even she could have expected. Her show Monday night even drew music royalty with Sir Paul McCartney in the audience.
Gaga returns to the Garden Tuesday night for another show that will be filmed for her HBO special set to run in May. (The tour hits Nassau Coliseum on April 23.)