Review: Lady Gaga Live at Roseland Ballroom

Lady Gaga's residency live at the Roseland Ballroom in downtown New York City was the last set of shows to be played at the 50+ year old ballroom before closing its doors forever. Gaga's residency lasted from the singer's 28th birthday (March 28th), through April 7th. Only 7 performances were played at the venue, all of which were sold out. Previously artists such as Fiona Apple, Madonna, Nirvana, Beyoncé, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Today I am doing a live review of the final show from Roseland Ballroom. Thankfully, it was streamed live by Verizon in a handful of selected countries and markets so that everyone could get a glimpse at the iconic venue before it was too late. First off, here's the setlist (which ran for about 1 hour):

1. "Born This Way (Acoustic)"

2. "Black Jesus † Amen Fashion"

3. "Monster"

4. "Bad Romance"

5. "Sexxx Dreams"

6. "Dope"

7. "Yoü & I"

8. "Just Dance"

9. "Poker Face (Piano Version)"

10. "Applause"

11. "G.U.Y"

On the final night of her performances, Lady Gaga arrived on stage with a black leotard with 3-dimensional hallow objects sticking out in points all around her body (like shown above). Rocking a faded lemon-lime wig that stood sky high, she sat at her electric stand up piano and kicked off the performance with the line "I love my life; I love this Roseland" to the tune of her #1 worldwide single "Born This Way". She followed with a full blown performance of a stripped down version of "Born This Way" in an acoustic format. What a way to start of a legendary set.

She followed with a short and sweet rendition of her 2011 album track "Black Jesus † Amen Fashion" in which she climbed above the stage and performed on a dangling cat walk clad in the same suit. Surrounding, were hundreds of red roses arranged in "x" shaped patterns. Background dancers wore black feathered outfits and several accompanied Gaga with strobing lights shining down on them. Her live vocals on this track were a little bit below what I've seen from her before, so I was a little disappointed with what I saw here.

She then slowly made her way back down to the main stage to perform her next song, one from her multiplatinum EP "The Fame Monster". She escaped the stage for a few moments to change into a red, multi layered dimensional leotard that she matched with red roses in her wig.

Her next track was "Monster", which she performed with minimal choreography while descending the staircase that attached the main stage to the elevated catwalk that she performed "Black Jesus † Amen Fashion" on. The track was in a strong form, and the vocals were on point. Unfortunately, this amazing track ended very abruptly. As seen in the picture here, a back up dancer handed Gaga a red rose covered keytar for her performance of her smash single "Bad Romance", the next track on the set list.

Preceding the performance of "Bad Romance" was a 1 minute long speech that introduced the track and gave out hints as to what it would be for audience members that didn't already know the set list.


During her 6 minute long rendition of "Bad Romance", Gaga did tons of stuff all over the stage (and above the stage). She played a rose covered keytar on the regular stage, got on top of a turning rounder and even climbed up a ladder that was covered in roses to sing inches in front of her parents and other lucky audience members. Additionally, she gave the middle finger to the audience (and the camera) for some unknown reason. This performance was one of her most adrenaline pumping performances and was the best one of the night so far.

Following that interesting performance, the singer launched right into her next song, "Sexxx Dreams". She also picked up some gifts from audience members right in front of the center stage.

But before that happened, she took a few minutes to say good bye to Amanda, one of her longtime back up dancers. During her performance, Gaga danced around with a male dancer as well as Amanda, flaunting with her "bisexuality". Her vocals matched well with the album version, but other than her maneuvering back and forth between the two dancers, not much else happened in terms of choreography. I will say that this rendition of the track did help me better appreciate it more. As a note, the album version of "Sexxx Dreams" (while not being released as a single) reached #8 on the CDS Music Chart Hot 50 back in late 2013. Also to note, she revisited parts of "Black Jesus † Amen Fashion" toward the end of the track and included some new lyrics to the track.

She then crossed the stage and performed both "Dope" and "Yoü & I" on a stand up piano in front of a prop version of the F subway station in New York City (located near where she grew up in the city).

At this point I decided that "Dope" was her most entertaining and passionate performance of the night. "Dope" is easily one of her best live tracks, because not only can she hit the notes, she always injects her own creative story or flavor into each different performance. The funniest moment of the night came when the since infamous girl with a pink Samsung case (who blocked everyone's view) in the front row near the piano reached out a touched Gaga's boob (with her permission) while she was standing right next to her mother in the audience.

Following that strange incident, the crowd went wild when Gaga started playing "Yoü & I" on the piano. She stood up on the stool and scrunched down to play the #6 peaking US Billboard Hot 100 hit single that spawned 2 well known alter egos (from the music video).

She switched to a yellow outfit to perform her biggest single to date "Just Dance". She came out atop the overhead catwalk before coming down the steps again toward the audience. She later slung on her keytar with roses (right) and continued to perform until she finally started going into a piano version of her 2nd most popular single, "Poker Face".

The performance of "Poker Face" was done while Gaga was seated at the piano where she first performed "Born This Way" to open the venue. At this point she removed her yellow jacket and was left with a golden metallic bra. The piano version of the dance Grammy award winning track sounded very weird but sounded like a 1970s version that was much more clear. I could understand all the lyrics for once.

She disappeared once more during an interlude set to the title track "ARTPOP". When she came back, she was already ready to dive into her 11 week CDS Music Chart Hot 50 #1 single (and #2 best performing track in history). During this version, Gaga didn't really try hard during the first few choruses but during the verses and the final chorus, the powerhouse, hit making voice that is heard around the world finally came out. I was very pleased with it, a proper way to end the long lasting legacy of New York's Roseland Ballroom.

But wait.

There's more.

After leaving for just a few minutes, Gaga returned with a single song encore to put the house of roses to rest. She performed her latest single "G.U.Y" (which is currently charting within the top 5 on the CDS Music Chart Hot 50). The house came smashing down with choreography straight out of the 12 minute long video. It worked nicely, and Gaga ended the 7 show journey by finally climbing atop her longest lasting dancer and bowing to the audience and thanking them for taking the journey with her. It was one hell of a concert that I was extremely glad to experience.

Rating: 8.5/10

Overview: I must say. This was one hell of a ride. This interesting residency proved to be not only successful but very creative. The performances were varied (most were strong and energetic) but some were a little bit off key. "Applause", "Dope" and "Bad Romance" were the strongest; each was well done in their individual ways. "Black Jesus † Amen Fashion" was the weakest link in the pack, though it wasn't even that long so it's disturbance was the least of my concerns. I was impressed. This was amazing and I would easily be willing to watch it again! A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E!

You can download "G.U.Y (Girl Under You)" on iTunes: smarturl.it/G.U.Y