Lady Gaga to bring Mayhem Ball show to Docklands Stadium
Lady Gaga is bringing her Mayhem Ball tour to Docklands Stadium this weekend. Here are 10 things you need to know before she takes the stage — and Melbourne — by storm.
Lady Gaga is bringing her Mayhem Ball tour to Docklands Stadium this weekend.
Here are 10 things you need to know before she takes the stage — and Melbourne — by storm.
150 minute spectacle
Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball concert is a 150 minute spectacle spanning 30 songs from an almost 20 year career.
The tour started in Las Vegas in July this year, and will end in New York in April next year. Gaga’s Melbourne concerts at Docklands Stadium on Friday and Saturday, are shows No. 51 and 52.
Colosseum-like opera house
The Mayhem Ball’s main set piece is a Colosseum-like opera house, with stone columns, detailed archways, and velvet curtains.
The staging includes balconies, boxes, and a pendulum-shaped catwalk that stretches into the audience as a B-stage. The set changes with different special effects, like a multi-coloured floor which, at times, simulates blood flow. The sets also include a towering cage-like gown, Venetian gondola.
Elements of chaos, defiance, and vulnerability
The concept of the show mirrors the themes of Gaga’s latest album, Mayhem. “It embraces the fractured pieces of oneself and how they come together to form something unexpected and beautiful … combining elements of chaos, defiance, and vulnerability into a cohesive artistic statement,” promoter Live Nation explained. Gaga likened the process to assembling a shattered mirror: “Even if you can’t put the pieces back together perfectly,” she said. “You can create something memorable and whole in its own way.”
Exploring the dark side of fame
So Lady Gaga deconstructs herself in every show? Well, kind of, Mayhem Ball is a classic melodrama exploring themes of duality, and her struggle with the dark side of fame and various crises, including physical and mental health battles, throughout her superstar career. “Mayhem is how I start the show,” Gaga told Rolling Stone. “It’s the most egocentric side of me, a side of being Gaga that I really loathe. I basically announce that I’m the queen, and I put a more naive and youthful version of myself into a deep sleep.”
Motivation behind the show
Wow, that’s dark. Gaga said the motivation of the show’s evil twin is to teach her younger self “a lesson and … abuse her into greatness.” But — spoiler alert mixed with good news — “what she wants doesn’t go as planned.” The finale — and let’s not ruin the moment with a shouty reveal here — is the perfect ending after so much inner turmoil, outer drama, and costume changes.
Crazy costume changes
Did you say costume changes? There are so many. The Mayhem Ball’s exquisite gothic and operatic looks were created by Sam Lewis, Athena Lawton, Manuel Albarran, Dilara Findikoglu, and Matieres Fecales, inspired by Alexander McQueen, Thierry Mugler, Michael Jackson (Dangerous tour era), Gaga’s own Paparazzi era, and The Phantom of the Opera.
Oh, and her original Born This Way jacket makes an appearance.
Setlist that’s on The Edge Of Glory
The setlist is 30 songs, and feature 14 songs from Mayhem, 5 from Born This Way, 5 from The Fame, and 3 from Artpop. The songs include Poker Face, Abracadabra, Disease, Paparazzi, Born This Way, The Edge Of Glory, Bad Romance, How Bad Do U Want Me, and a surprise for her encore. Gaga also performs an alternate version of Shallow, her duet with Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born, Die With A Smile, the 3bn streamed megahit recorded with Bruno Mars. The show is divided into four acts, and a finale — Velvet And Vice, And She Fell Into A Gothic Dream, The Beautiful Nightmare That Knows Her Name, Every Chessboard Has Two Queens, and Eternal Aria Of The Monster Heart.
Details for the Mayhem Ball show
There is no support act on Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball tour. Gates open at 6pm, but times might differ for VIP packages. Lady Gaga is on stage at 7.30pm.
‘Big-ass spectacle’
The Mayhem Ball features 32 dancers. “It’s a big-ass spectacle,” Variety said in its review, adding the dancer tally probably outnumbers the production and costume designers count. The show was choreographed by New Zealand’s Parris Goebel, who also worked on Super Bowl shows by Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna. The Haus of Gaga website lists the Mayhem Ball band as Brockett Parsons (keyboards), Tosh Peterson (drums), Eric Ingram (bass), and Ricky Tillo and Tim Stewart (guitars).
Tickets still available
There are still a few tickets available for Lady Gaga’s Friday and Saturday shows. But avoid scammers and only buy them through authorised channels — livenation.com.au and ticketmaster.com.au
Originally published as Lady Gaga to bring Mayhem Ball show to Docklands Stadium
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