As it turns out, GaGa isn’t much to go gaga about. The concert, although it did not fail to be a spectacle, did not exceed my expectations. It was the epitome of Lady GaGa, complete with a bubble costume, some weird monotone soliloquies and several intense pairs of sunglasses. And at the end of the show, I left with mixed feelings.
There were only two songs that impressed me with Lady GaGa’s vocal talents: her acoustic rendition of “Poker Face” and her acoustic performance of a new song, “Future Love.” Notice a trend? It was during these songs that her musical training and natural talent were the foundation of the performance rather than a supplement to flash and glitz. Her bravado: a bit over the top. Her pitch: a little off. But her genuine talent and energy shined, which lacked in her other songs.
The most appealing parts of her performance, quite easily, were the extraordinarily constructed costumes ““ Britney Spears’ “Toxic” meets Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga. Translation: futuristic, highly structured and cool. Her set design with a city-lights backdrop and several stacked video screens bursting with Warhol-like images added to the rave-like, overexposed environment.
“Cool” happens to be the only word that I can really describe Lady GaGa with ““ please excuse the simplicity ““ and she played that characteristic out in every way. She was cool in a “I want to be her and traipse around in a nude leotard and neon yellow sunglasses” way, but she maintained a distance with the audience, sticking to short, scripted, quirky words about love and loneliness. It was like watching her through the eye of a camera lens.
Her dancing skills were also only mildly interesting. She did throw in the expected convulsive, sculptural moves, but the audience, unfortunately, couldn’t imitate them without serious bodily damage. The best aspect of the show was the choreographed routines with her dancers, which had a certain sharpness and attitude not matched by other artists.
I would like to say Lady GaGa could be the next Madonna, with the ability to reinvent herself for 20 or 30 years. But she isn’t unless she decides to make her vocals, rather than her bizarre costumes and nonsensical statements, the center of her artistry.
Obviously, her persona is working for her right now. The crowd was practically salivating when she came on stage. But she only performed a handful of songs, all with a similarly low energy level. And she relied on the novelty of her music videos and name to make the show. In fact, the thing I best remember from the show is, “The year is 3009, and I’m Lady Gaga.” What is the significance of 3009? And why do you keep repeating it? The theme of the show was haphazard. And stop saying your name. We get it.
So it was cool. I guess.
But really, I had finals. And this did not make me feel better about skipping a night of studying and being sober and having to see this concert. And then I had some half-naked girl in zebra print kick me with black patent-leather stilettos because she was trying to imitate the Lady. It was not good. Not good at all.
““ Amber Bissell
Sara Bareilles’ show at the Hotel Cafe on Friday wasn’t perfect, but it came pretty darn close.
The singer-songwriter returned to the pleasantly intimate venue near the tail end of her “Gravity” tour, which she said was about coming back to the beginning and playing only songs she really wanted to perform.
Though Bareilles was partly referring to her residencies at Hotel Cafe where she “spent many a drunken night” before signing with Epic Records, the show was in many ways also a return to her strengths.
For all its commercial success and critical reviews, “Little Voice,” Bareilles’ chart-topping album, is overproduced, and the zealous arrangements often obscure smarter-than-average lyrics and a beautiful voice behind a pop-infused sound.
On Friday, with long-time bandmates Josh Day and Javier Dunn and the recent addition of Daniel Ryan on bass, Bareilles showcased her voice in a stripped-down performance reminiscent of her earlier self-produced “Careful Confessions.”
Between songs, Bareilles maintained the friendly, informal vibe that works so well in venues like the Hotel Cafe, where slick wood paneling and a retro mid-1950s aesthetic is saved from pretension by the warm rapport between performers and their audiences.
Like opening acts Raining Jane and Tony Lucca, Bareilles was absolutely comfortable with herself and her craft, and it showed.
After the crowd cheered when she mentioned the title of the Gravity tour, she responded, “I know, right? Science is so cool.”
Her mix of self-deprecating dorkiness and off-color remarks tied together an impressive vocal performance.
Just after coming on stage, Bareilles apologized for being “sick as a dog,” but promised she was not making excuses. “The bet tonight is whether I sneeze in the middle of a song,” she explained before sitting down at her keyboard and pounding out “Undertow,” the second track from “Careful Confessions.”
If Bareilles sounded slightly hoarse while speaking, that faded as she worked her way through sly lyrics such as “Old habits are so hard to break, / It’d be a shame to stop now that / I’ve started to make really good mistakes.”
Bareilles then redeemed “Fairytale” ““ one of the most notably overdone songs on “Little Voice” ““ showing off a maturity and depth to her voice that has developed since her earlier shows here. She pulled out a ukulele for “Free Ride,” a somehow cheerful indictment of people waiting around for a handout.
Bareilles’ bandmembers then joined her on stage for highlights from “Little Voice,” including a lively acoustic rendition of “Come Round Soon.”
Other highs were another new song ““ an upbeat examination of getting over a failed relationship ““ the audience singing along to “Many the Miles” and a cover of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Bareilles set up the solid interpretation with her account of realizing she was the only person in the audience at the Grammys who leapt to her feet when Bono appeared on stage.
The only low, if it could even be called that, was when Bareilles finished her set with a cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” It sounded fine, but the covers of “Umbrella” have become as repetitive as the song itself.
Luckily, Bareilles ended the night with an encore, calling up opener and former Mouseketeer Lucca for a cover of Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” before finishing with a solo performance of “Gravity.”
That song launched Bareilles’ musical journey back when she was an undergraduate at UCLA and wrote the piece for a cappella group Awaken.
As she crooned her way through “Gravity,” the silence that descended on the audience defined the feel of the evening: a group of fans truly enjoying a spectacular performance.
““ Audrey Kuo
E-mail Bissell at abissell@media.ucla.edu and Kuo at akuo@media.ucla.edu.