The Fame Ball Tour

The Fame Ball Tour

Tour by Lady Gaga
File:Gagaperforming6.jpg Lady Gaga performing during her 2009 tour
Associated album	The Fame
Start date	March 12, 2009
End date	May 30, 2009
Legs	1
No. of shows	28 in North America

The Fame Ball Tour is the first concert tour by American pop singer-songwriter, Lady Gaga. The tour is to promote her first studio album, The Fame. The tour started on March 12, 2009 and will continue through North America. The show consisted of four segments with each segment being followed by a video interlude to the next segment. Gaga appeared on the stage in new costumes including an innovative dress made entirely of bubbles and premiered an unknown song called "Future Love". The show has received critical appreciation with most of them acclaiming her voice clarity and fashion sense.

Background

The tour was officially announced on January 12, 2009 through Gaga's official Myspace page. This will be her first headlining tour; she has previously served as opening act for New Kids on the Block's New Kids on the Block: Live tour, as well as the Pussycat Doll's World Domination Tour. Gaga stated, "I consider what I do to be more of an Andy Warhol concept: pop performance art, multimedia, fashion, technology, video, film. And it's all coming together, and it's going to be traveling museum show." In an interview with MTV News, Gaga described the tour as, "It's not really a tour, it's more of a traveling party. I want it to be an entire experience from [the] minute you walk in [the] front door to [the] minute I begin to sing. And when it's all over, everyone's going to press rewind and relive it again. It's going to be as if you're walking into New York circa 1974: There's an art installation in the lobby, a DJ spinning your favorite records in the main room, and then the most haunting performance that you've ever seen on the stage."

Shortly after tickets went on sale, certain cities added a second show on the same night due to the high demand for tickets. There was no time to add a second night, so the show will be taking place twice on certain nights.

On 20 February 2009, Huliq News reported that Gaga donated tickets and a meet and greet, for any show on her tour, in the US or Canada, to raise money for Odyssey Charter School and elementary schools in Los Angeles affected by budget cuts. According to Gaga she's preparing three versions of her show to cater to different sizes of the venues she's playing. In an interview with Billboard she said

"I want to have a clear schedule of the dimensions for each venue so that we can properly execute all the technology and visuals. I need to mentally prepare days in advance if things are going to be taken out; otherwise, I won't have a good show...Every show's gonna be an A show by the time I'm done screaming at everyone -- 'Hang it! Hang everything! Find a place to hang it!' That's gonna be my motto."

She also stated, "This is going to be, like, the ultimate creative orgasm for me because I'm ready to move on. I'm not restricted to a certain structure for my show anymore. No limitations. I'm free."

About the show

File:Gagaperforming1.jpg

Lady Gaga performing "Paparazzi".

The show is mainly divided into three parts. White Tie Affair starts the show with Glowsticks in hands. The main show begins with a video introduction called "The Heart" where Gaga tells about what it feels to be like her and shows the image of a pink heart on her t-shirt. Then Gaga is shown dressing up for the show. She says "My name is Lady GaGa, and this is my house" and talks about Fame in general and also of pop-performance art, Andy Warhol concepts, futuristic music and her "Haus of Gaga". The video is shown in projection on a giant screen in front of the stage. As the video approaches towards the end, Gaga says "Wait for your life to be changed". A countdown from 10 to 1 happens and the screen drops. Gaga appears in the middle of the stage from below. She is surrounded by her dancers holding glass encrusted plates which camouflage them. She wears a futuristic dress in geometric patterns. Gaga comes out in the center as the plates roll around and she starts singing "Paparazzi". The performance ends with continuous clicking of the camera. Gaga comes to the top of the pillar and sings a combination of "Starstruck" and "LoveGame" as she is joined by her dancers in tracks and jackets and hands Gaga her trademark disco-stick. "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" starts next where Gaga frolicks with her dancers. This leads to the end of the first part wherein a video introduction starts again talking about the new development to dance-pop.

Gaga again appears on the stage in a white leotard with lightning shaped symbols on it and starts singing "The Fame" in a remix version of the song while riding a Vespa. The Vespa is coloured to match Gaga's outfit. It was followed by "Money Honey". The screens on the back show money being made. She is joined again by her dancers in backpacks and they do a routine to the dance. As the song ends Gaga disappears for a moment only to appear on the stage and starts singing "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" with Gaga asking the audience to wave their arms around. The backdrops display a stormy weather scene in contrast to the sunny breezy nature of the song. Next Space Cowboy appears on the stage presenting a remix interlude where Gaga and he at first has a jamming session and later only he performs as Gaga leaves for a costume change.

The third part starts with Gaga appearing on the stage in a dress completely made of plastic bubbles. She sits in front of a glass piano and starts singing a piano version of "Poker Face". She sometimes puts her leg on the piano and even plays it with her stilletos. The stage has a blue setting amidst mechanical cloudings. She then thanks the audience for joining her and as a "surprise" plays "Future Love", a new song. After that she gets up from the piano as her dancers appear from various corner of the stage and she sings a futuristic version of "Just Dance". As part of the encore, after a short musical interlude by Space Cowboy, Gaga appears on the stage in a golden pink leotard and wearing an inspector hat. She sings "Boys, Boys, Boys" followed by the final song of the show, the actual version of "Poker Face". The show ends amidst confetti and balloons and Gaga disappearing into the pillar with the Mum-mum-mum-ma hook of "Poker Face" being played continuously in the background. The screen comes up and displays the line "Pop Music will Never be Low Brow".

Opening Acts

• The White Tie Affair (select dates)
• Chester French (select dates)
• Cinema Bizarre (select dates)

Set List

File:Gagaperforming5.jpg

lady Gaga performing "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)"

1. "The Heart" (Video Introduction)
2. "Paparazzi"
3. Medley:
   1. "Starstruck
   2. "LoveGame"
4. "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich"
5. "The Fame"
6. "Money Honey"
7. "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)"
8. "Space Cowboy" (Instrumental Interlude)
9. "Poker Face"
10. "Future Love"
11. "Just Dance"
12. Encore:
    1. "Boys Boys Boys"
    2. "Poker Face"

Additional notes

• During the concert in Ottawa on March 27, 2009, as midnight struck fans started singing "Happy Birthday" to Gaga. She was singing the song "Future Love" on the piano and seemed overwhelmed with emotion. She got up to the crowd and said, "This show is not for me,.[..].This show is for all of you guys. I really want you to have fun and meet each other and have the time of your life."
• During the concert in Montreal on March 28, 2009, after performing "Poker Face," the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to Lady Gaga. She was overcome with emotion from the moving event and said, "I swear on my life, if it wasn't for Canada, nobody would know who the fuck I am."

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
North America
March 12, 2009	San Diego	United States	House of Blues
March 13, 2009	Los Angeles	United States	Wiltern Theatre
March 14, 2009	San Francisco	United States	Mezzanine
March 16, 2009	Seattle	United States	Showbox at the Market
March 17, 2009	Portland	United States	Wonder Ballroom
March 18, 2009	Vancouver	Canada	Commodore Ballroom
March 21, 2009	Denver	United States	Gothic Theater
March 23, 2009	Minneapolis	United States	Fine Line Music Cafe
March 24, 2009	Chicago	United States	House of Blues
March 25, 2009	Royal Oak	United States	Royal Oak Music Theatre
March 26, 2009	Kitchener	Canada	Elements Nightclub
March 27, 2009	Ottawa	Canada	Bronson Centre
March 28, 2009	Montreal	Canada	Metropolis
March 30, 2009	Boston	United States	House of Blues
April 3, 2009	Richmond	United States	The National
April 6, 2009	Orlando	United States	House of Blues
April 7, 2009	Tampa	United States	The Ritz Ybor
April 8, 2009	Ft. Lauderdale	United States	Revolution
April 9, 2009	Atlanta	United States	Center Stage
April 11, 2009	Palm Springs	United States	Palm Springs Convention Center[A]
May 1, 2009	Philadelphia	United States	Electric Factory
May 2, 2009	New York	United States	Terminal 5

Notes

• A^ The concert is apart of the White Party.

Critical reception

The tour received positive reviews for the live performance of Gaga and the whole concept and costumes, but the video footages and the backdrops were sometimes criticised.

Entertainment Weekly gave a somewhat positive review of the concert. According to them, "Her onstage banter was at times a bit silly ("I travel the whole world, and when I come home, I can still smell the stench of greed") and the visuals occasionally lacking in coherent theme, but her voice was strong and refreshingly free of overbearing tracking vocals. For all her cocky bluster, perhaps the most undeniable aspect of GaGa's talent is this: The girl can, and does, sing." The show was described to be a "sartorial experimentation that it made Rocky Horror look like cotillion. One presumed the Lady approved - and somewhere, to be sure, Andy Warhol stirred in his grave. "

Mercury News said "Lady Gaga successfully proved at the Mezzanine that she's got the right songs and she's got the right concept, never once breaking from her weirdly robotic character during the course of the evening. Let's just hope that she sticks around long enough to show us what else she's got.' However they also shared the same concern that "[Gaga] took far too long with her costume changes, especially for a show that clocked in under an hour. Also, the video segments - such as the one showing Gaga stroking her hair with a pink Hello Kitty brush - were pretty much pointless."

Yahoo! gave a positive review of the concert saying "Gaga's first theater tour is a hot ticket -- and the Lady did not disappoint. Borrowing from Madonna, Grace Jones, David Bowie and Daryl Hannah's "Blade Runner" replicant, Gaga put on a compelling show revolving around her mysterious persona, a trio of leather-jacketed dancers, multiple costume changes and props and a lone DJ providing musical accompaniment."

The Boston Globe reviewed the concert in House of Blues and said "The combination of song and spectacle was crowd-pleasing and exhilarating. Her club-ready songs were delivered by a woman who is clearly studied, intelligent, and talented. It was more than could be said for her opening act."

Ottawa Citizen gave a positive review of the concert at Bronson Centre in Ottawa and said, "Accompanied by a DJ who also played a funky electric guitar, the curvy dynamo(Gaga and Space Cowboy) fronted one of wildest spectacles ever mounted at Bronson Centre, an action-packed circus of sound, lights, video images, fog and choreography. Though heavy on theatrics, there was no skimping on the music." They also commented on Gaga's fashion sense and style in her costumes by saying, "In an hour, Gaga proved her star power by packing in all her hits, displaying influences that ranged from Motown to 80s pop, and exhibiting a fearless fashion sense in several costume changes, none of which covered her bum."

External links

• Official tour website