My friends and I at a local Irish pub, which we visited both before and after the show. Great time!!!

First, I have to say this show was SOOOOO MUCH FUCKING FUN. This easily ranks as the 3rd greatest concert I have ever seen (right after Kylie USA last fall and Janet AFY tour 2001 when I had front row center seats! I've never seen Madonna or Prince or MJ, btw). The crowd LOVED her and the entire 5,000 capacity theater was on their feet dancing the entire show. The only time people sat down was for "Speechless" and "Poker Face (piano version)". Not kidding, the rest of the time the whole place was standing up partying!! This was the most energy I have ever felt from a crowd (I think even more than Kylie USA tour, actually!). But at this show, the excitement extended all over the theater - even people in the worst seats were standing up dancing and partying!

I behaved like a fucking PSYCHO!!!! I was sure to tell the people sitting beside me and a behind me to let me know if I got too out of hand and they both laughed and said "No - you're fine!!!!" ... I think they were enjoying my over-the-top excitement LOL (they were pretty excited themselves, as was most of the crowd around me!). I danced wildly through the entire fucking show! I was absolutely drenched in sweat after it was over and was in desperate need of water!! It was HEAVEN!!!!!

I have more thorough commentary at the end of this post, after the photos!

The setlist:
[size="1"]“Dance in the Dark”
“Just Dance”
“LoveGame”
“Alejandro”
“Monster”
“So Happy I Could Die”
“Teeth”
“Speechless”
“Poker Face” (a capella)
“The Fame” (remix) / “Money Honey” (remix) / “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich” (remix)
“Boys Boys Boys
“Paper Gangsta”
“Poker Face” (Album version w/ Space Cowboy Remix mixed in at the end)
“Paparazzi”

Encore
“Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)”
“Bad Romance”[/size]

[indent]
Fox Theater, St. Louis (the venue)




Virgin Mobile "Monster Gallery" fan pictures
Virgin Mobile had 2 photo opportunities setup... One where you could get your pic taken by a professional photographer and another where you used your own camera to take pics inside the orb!! We did both, of course, LOL.



This is my pic by the professional photographer. You can see this pic on their site www.ladyvirgin.com (where they post all the fan pics they take)... they select a top 24 pics from each show and mine was one of the ones they picked as a "Featured Monster"!!! You can see me on their St. Louis page on Page 4 of the "Featured Monsters." Yay!!!! Team Virgin Mobile LOVED my shirt!! The photog was very excited about it, hehe.


I'm mimicking one of the Bad Romance dance moves, by the way! But I think my version of this pose resembles SNL's Mary Katherine Gallagher smelling her armpits more than Gaga's Bad Romance, LMFAO!!! Oh well.


Here you can see one of the guys ahead of me in line, so you can see what their setup was like.


My friends and I before the show, enjoying a few drinks!







"Just Dance" (she's on top of that big box, playing a keytar!)




"Alejandro" (I think!)


"Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" - did the whole song inside the orb!!


Curtain call
[/indent]

My commentary:

Pre-show Warm-up Music (MJ)
Jason Derulo was the opening act (which we didn't watch), but between his set and Gaga's set, they played NOTHING BUT Michael Jackson classics!!! It was PERFECT! It really got the crowd hyped for Gaga. While we were all sitting there waiting, the MJ tunes kept everyone in party-mode. One 50-something lady (very normal looking) even BROKE IT DOWN dancing at her seat and attracted the attention of the entire balcony, who cheered wildly for her! It was great! There was a real camaraderie amongst the Gaga fans that I don't often see at most pop concerts.

The Sound
The speakers were up freaking LOUD which was perfect!!! It really encouraged the audience to get on their feet and DANCE and enjoy themselves (which they did!). It's been a day and a half and my ears are literally still ringing, LOL.

The Stage
LOVED the huge video screen backdrops... really helped to recreate the vibe of the stage for every song. Also I was crazy about the "lightbox" effect that they used to frame the stage... can't really describe it. You've just got to see it!

Gaga Falling Down
So, Gaga did NOT fall down onstage at this show! Though it did almost happen once while she was doing some Yoga-like poses on the Piano bench (wearing this huge tulle-lace neck/shoulder-piece). It was funny, she slipped while she was doing the pose and had to grab the piano to catch her balance... she was talking during it and said something like "Woah, there!" It was cute. While Gaga may not have fallen down, my dancing did get so out of hand that I fell down once at my seat while dancing!!! HAHAHA!!!!! It wasn't too noticeable, though because the crowd was going so wild. And I didn't fall into the floor, just into my seat behind me, haha.

The Religious Protest
The much-hyped religious protest by Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church ended up getting cancelled due to the freezing cold temperatures and snow that has covered the entire state.

Gay Commentary
Given the drama about the planned protest, Gaga had a lot to say about the gays. She mentioned that she was taking donations for a charity that finds homes for LGBT youths that have been estranged from their family. She said she will personally match 100% of the donations made at the show. Fucking awesome. Love her. She didn't get excessive, but she did have quite a few things to say about Gay-rights issues on-stage (though the specifics escape me, I was touched by her words). Preceding the performance of "Boys, Boys, Boys" she SCREAMED "WHERE ARE MY GAY BOYS?! THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!" and she went straight into "B, B, B" and the audience went MANIC!!!!!

This was my favorite costume!!!!


I realize she is going for an Egyptian look here, but it also reminds me of one of my favorite childhood movie characters... Skeletor from the live-action movie of 'Masters of the Universe'.


I may attempt to write up some more song-specific commentary later, but to be honest, I was in a Gaga-haze the entire show. For 2.5 hours (or however long it lasted), I was completely in another space. By hearing all these favorite songs of mine being performed LIVE, BOOMING out of the speakers and being surrounded by thousands of other Gaga fans, I was mentally in a whole other realm. Which is what music/artists/concerts/experiences like this are all about! I wouldn't trade this night for the world.
[Edited 1/9/10 17:13pm]

Sounds like you had an excellent time. I wish I had gone to see her at the Fox.

JiggleItLikeJello said:

The review seemed overwhelmingly positive until I saw this.

Cinnie said:

Haha!!!! This is not necessarily a criticism, but I had to mention it because as soon as I saw the costume I thought "OMG - that looks just like Skeletor's costume!" LOL...

great review. thanks for posting that and the pictures. love that shirt btw!
[Edited 1/9/10 11:03am]

Cool review. Love the shirt.

You're adorable

Haha, thanks everyone!! Glad you like the shirt, too!!