Lady Gaga in Seoul. On March 28th Lady Gaga descended upon the citizens of Seoul like some intergalactic Madonna searching for her brood of little monsters. Of course the arrival of anything unfamiliar or foreign stirred up the hornets nest of angry ajummas on the lookout for a scapegoat. Lady Gaga took on the sins of every imagined ill afflicting Korean society by bringing her Born This Way concert to the land of the morning calm.
Hordes of “Christians” protested the concert even managing to elicit a ban of fans under the age of eighteen from attending. Railing against Gaga’s supposed “promotion” of pornography and homosexuality don’t these folks have nothing better to do than trod on other people’s freedom of expression and right to exist? If they had actually stuck around an saw Gaga’s concert they would have realized she’s about as racy as a PG-13 movie. I’ve seen more skin at the beaches here in Korea or from a half dozen K-pop acts than on her stage.
Her arrival should have been met with open arms not a fist. She’s an A list act who chose to not only perform in Seoul ( a city some other big names somehow avoid) but to also kick off her world tour. Though part of me wishes she’d started somewhere else before Korea just so the kinks could have been worked out. A few of those mentioned by concert goers include the mass of bodies one had to forge to receive an over 18 wrist band; the horrendous 12 hour wait some endured for the special monster pit section; but besides those two quibbles my one big gripe was actually the venue itself. Olympic Stadium is a monolithic monstrosity of concrete and steel from the eighties. It’s sheer size overwhelmed Lady Gaga. Her whole performance rests upon a backbone of stunning visuals and images that dazzle. For the folks in the sitting sections circling the stadium as well as the people in standing section B she was little more than a firefly buzzing in the distance.
However, if you were one of the lucky ones in standing A or the coveted monsters pit, then you were treated to a spectacle worthy of any sci-fi fantasy epic. She entered on a mechanical “horse” escorted by lithe human bodies, she strutted with a keyboard headpiece with guitars as adornments, she rocked out on an over sized Harley Davidson that somehow she became part of. In other words she put the show in showstopper, but only if you managed to be within 200 feet.
Moral of the story? Buy great seats, stay home and watch the videos or have “creative” friends (hey Joe) who know how to work their way to the main stage.
